Patient Safety: Can We Do Better?

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“You have to water the flowers you want to grow,” said Stephen Covey, the longtime educator.?

Covey’s quote came to mind as I reviewed an article published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) about patient safety.?

The study gathered data from 11 Massachusetts hospitals ranging in size from 100 to 700 beds in pre-COVID 2018.?The bottom line is that nearly 25% of hospital admissions had at least one adverse event identified.

Almost one-quarter (22.7%) of the identified adverse events were preventable and one-third (32.3%) had a severity level that required substantial intervention or prolonged recovery.

The Harvard Medical Practice Study (HMPS), which conducted this 2018 study, also conducted a patient safety study in 1984 which led to the Institute of Medicine publication, To Err is Human, that brought patient safety into public awareness.?

What do we know about hospital-based adverse events??Measurement is not perfect, however, multiple international and U.S. studies, including the HMPS 1984 study, show generally similar trends and clearly show that adverse events negatively influence outcomes.

Certainly, the delivery system has become more complex; diagnostic and treatment options, facilitated by advanced technology and pharmaceuticals, are exponentially greater; complex care has moved to ambulatory care sites leaving sicker patients in the hospital. Of course, these factors increase the potential for adverse events.

Even so, Covey’s quote makes the point.?Patient safety will improve with additional resources which requires management and the board to carefully consider spending priorities.?Are we doing the best we can?

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