Keeping Patients Safe: Transforming the Work Environment of Nurses

Excerpt

Keeping Patients Safe builds on two prior reports. Harvey indicated Crossing the Quality Chasm and To Err Is Human, and very briefly to put it into context, To Err Is Human documented the fact that we have substantial errors that occur in health care. It focused on hospitals and in-patient settings, and errors that lead to the death of an estimated 44,000 to 98,000 patients a year. I think for most people it was rather shocking to think that so many people would die because of errors or accidents, despite the work of committed institutions and dedicated health professionals. It addressed some regulatory policy issues that needed to be addressed. Crossing the Quality Chasm took a next step and focused very much on what the system needs to do to relate to the patient and to the actual delivery of health care, sort of the micro part of the system: what happens on the unit, what happens between the nurse, the physician, the patient, and other health professionals. This report reaches out somewhat differently. It really focuses on the health-care organization and what hospitals and nursing homes need to do in order to address patient safety. It focuses on nurses, who are the majority of the health-care work force, who are the ones whom the patients see the most, and who are in the position to provide the kind of surveillance and monitoring as well as interventions, that are critical to patient safety.