JAMA op-ed examines progress in patient safety

Fifteen years ago, the National Academy of Medicine released a groundbreaking paper, “To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System,” which led to widespread action across all sectors of the healthcare industry.

A recent op-ed from the Journal of the American Medical Association examines the healthcare industry’s progress in patient safety.

Amid a recent study that attributed 250,000 deaths each year to medical error, “Patient Safety at the Crossroads” argues for continued diligence in promoting enhanced protocols as attention continues to shift toward quality and value-based care.

Tejal K. Gandhi, MD, MPH, Donald M. Berwick, MD, MPP, and Kaveh G. Shojania, MD, also discuss the eight recommendations to enhance patient safety made in the follow-up report:

• Ensure that leaders establish and sustain a safety culture
• Create centralized and coordinated oversight of patient safety
• Create a common set of safety metrics that reflect meaningful outcomes
• Increase funding for research in patient safety and implementation science
• Address safety across the entire care continuum
• Support the health care workforce
• Partner with patients and families for the safest care
• Ensure that technology is safe and optimized to improve patient safety