The Institute of Healthcare Improvement (IHI) each year in March spotlights patient safety by designating one week as Patient Safety Awareness Week. According to the IHI, the goal is to “advance important discussions locally and globally, and inspire action to improve the safety of the health care system — for patients and the workforce.” Patient Safety Awareness Week this year took place March 12-18.
IHI works with partners worldwide to improve and enhance the quality of patient care and safety. According to the IHI, studies suggest that about 400,000 deaths occur in the U.S. each year due to errors or preventable harm. Therefore, all health professionals, including doctors, nurses, physician assistants, caregivers, EMS providers, and pharmacists, as well as public health administrators, business leaders, and patients, have a role and responsibility to provide and promote safe, quality health care by identifying causes and contributing factors of medical errors, improving detection and reporting of errors, and preventing errors.
During Patient Safety Awareness Week, IHI holds free webinars on patient safety. Others also provide resources to help health care workers and providers. For example, the American Society for Health Care Risk Management (ASHRM) held two podcasts: “Encouraging Event Reporting in the Face of Adversity” and “Actions to Address Workplace Safety in a Public Safety Net Health Care Organization.”
During this awareness week, initiatives from state health departments, hospitals, clinics, universities, and others also recognize patient safety.
Risk management is an integral component of patient safety and mitigating errors. Our carrier partners at Manchester Specialty are committed to providing loss-control measures to help reduce the frequency and severity of losses. Resources and tools are available to insureds – from patient safety consulting and training to safe patient-handling procedures and more.
About One80 Intermediaries/Manchester Specialty:
Manchester Specialty, a division of One80 Intermediaries, is a national specialty underwriting and insurance program management firm, licensed to do business as a program administrator in all 50 states and DC. Our agent/broker partners and their Allied Health clients look to us for our expertise, broad product capability, commitment to the market, and the quality and stability of our insurance programs for Home Care, Medical Staffing, Allied Health and Human Services organizations. For more information, call us toll-free 1-855-972-9399, or visit Allied Health Firms – One80 Intermediaries.