Understanding Patient Safety

Complete coverage of the core principles of patient safety Understanding Patient Safety, 2e is the essential text for anyone wishing to learn the key clinical, organizational, and systems issues in patient safety. The book is filled with valuable cases and analyses, as well as up-to-date tables, graphics, references, and tools -- all designed to introduce the patient safety field to medical trainees, and be the go-to book for experienced clinicians and non-clinicians alike. Features NEW chapter on the critically important role of checklists in medical practice NEW case examples throughout Expanded coverage of the role of computers in patient safety and outcomes Expanded coverage of new patient initiatives from the Joint Commission

Gain a thorough understanding of the key principles of patient safety with the subject's pioneer text -- Now in full color "This highly readable yet comprehensive book will appeal to every member of the healthcare team. It is a must for every physician's bookshelf." -- Abraham Verghese, MD, Professor, Stanford University and author of the bestselling Cutting for Stone "Bob Wachter's quest to improve the safety of American healthcare represents the very essence of a physician's duty to put the patient first. His unflinching candor about the nature and magnitude of our current safety problems is matched only by his passion for improvement." -- Mark R. Chassin, MD, MPP, MPH, President, The Joint Commission "Amazingly readable for such a wealth of important information. This book should be required reading for every health professional and every healthcare executive." -- Christine Cassel, MD, President and CEO, American Board of Internal Medicine "In a single volume, Wachter accomplishes the seemingly impossible: furnishing the novice with a highly accessible, easy-to-read introduction to patient safety, while providing a comprehensive, fully annotated reference for the experienced patient safety practitioner. All of the important issues are addressed in individual chapters, each with a lively and relevant clinical example and a “key points” summary at the end bracketing full, balanced and lucid descriptions. A true gem, destined to be a close companion for all of us who strive to make healthcare safe." -- Lucian Leape, MD, Professor, Harvard School of Public Health and Chair, Lucian Leape Institute of the National Patient Safety Foundation "There's no more prominent authority on patient safety than Bob Wachter. And there's no more effective primer on patient safety than this one." -- Atul Gawande, MD, MPH, Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School, staff writer for the New Yorker, and bestselling author of Complications and The Checklist Manifesto "Compelling: a must read for all concerned with patient safety. Bob Wachter has a unique voice, incorporating clinical experience, research expertise, and policy implications…all with the patient front and center." -- Peter J. Pronovost, MD, PhD, Professor and Director of the Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality, Johns Hopkins Medicine Understanding Patient Safety, Second Edition is the essential book for anyone seeking to learn the core clinical, organizational, and systems issues of patient safety. Written in an engaging and accessible style by one of the world’s leading authorities on patient safety and quality, Understanding Patient Safety is filled with valuable cases and analyses, as well as tables, graphics, references, and tools. This classic reference is designed to make the patient safety field understandable to medical, nursing, pharmacy, hospital administration, and other trainees, and to be the go-to book for experienced clinicians and non-clinicians alike. The second edition has been revised to include coverage of the latest issues and trends, including: Information technology Measurements of safety, errors, and harm Checklist-based interventions Safety targets Policy issues in patient safety Balancing “no blame” and accountability Understanding Patient Safety, Second Edition delivers key insights to help you understand and prevent a a broad range of errors, including those related to medications, surgery, diagnosis, infections, and nursing care. The crucial contextual issues -- including errors at the person-machine interface, the role of culture, patient engagement in their own safety, and workforce and trainee considerations, are also well covered. Finally, the book provides a practical overview of how to organize an effective safety program, in both hospitals and clinics.

When you are ready to implement measures to improve patient safety, this is the book to consult. Charles Vincent, one of the world's pioneers in patient safety, discusses each and every aspect clearly and compellingly. He reviews the evidence of risks and harms to patients, and he provides practical guidance on implementing safer practices in health care. The second edition puts greater emphasis on this practical side. Examples of team based initiatives show how patient safety can be improved by changing practices, both cultural and technological, throughout whole organisations. Not only does this benefit patients; it also impacts positively on health care delivery, with consequent savings in the economy. Patient Safety has been praised as a gateway to understanding the subject. This second edition is more than that – it is a revelation of the pervading influence of health care errors, and a guide to how these can be overcome. "... The beauty of this book is that it describes the complexity of patient safety in a simple coherent way and captures the breadth of issues that encompass this fascinating field. The author provides numerous ways in which the reader can take this subject further with links to the international world of patient safety and evidence based research... One of the most difficult aspects of patient safety is that of implementation of safer practices and sustained change. Charles Vincent, through this book, provides all who read it clear examples to help with these challenges" From a review in Hospital Medicine by Dr Suzette Woodward, Director of Patient Safety. Access 'Essentials of Patient Safety – Free Online Introduction': www.wiley.com/go/vincent/patientsafety/essentials

Now revised and updated—the landmark patient safety primer written by the world’s leading authorities Medical errors are the unfortunate byproduct of an increasingly complex healthcare system. Now more than ever, keeping patients safe takes well-trained caregivers, relevant insights from a range of industries, additional investment—and a groundbreaking text like Understanding Patient Safety. Understanding Patient Safety is “must read” for those seeking to master the clinical, organizational, and systems issues of patient safety. In this bestselling primer, patient safety pioneer Robert Wachter and Kiran Gupta put all the essential tools and principles at your fingertips. Engaging and accessible, the book is filled with high-yield cases, analyses, tables, graphics, along with key points and references—all designed to help you optimize quality and safety. Understanding Patient Safety begins with an introduction to patient safety and medical errors. Its second section surveys specific types of medical errors, including those related to surgery, medications, diagnosis, transition and handoff, and infections. The third section covers proven solutions, from establishing reporting systems, to creating a culture of safety. The third edition reflects pivotal new developments in the field, including major updates in diagnostic errors, information technology and patient safety, ambulatory safety, and clinician burnout. Features: •Coverage of human factors and errors at the person-machine interface •Review of workplace issues, including supporting caregivers after major errors •How to organize an effective safety program •Coordination of patient education and training •Overview of the malpractice system •Discussion of the patient’s role

Experts estimate that as many as 98,000 people die in any given year from medical errors that occur in hospitals. That's more than die from motor vehicle accidents, breast cancer, or AIDSâ€"three causes that receive far more public attention. Indeed, more people die annually from medication errors than from workplace injuries. Add the financial cost to the human tragedy, and medical error easily rises to the top ranks of urgent, widespread public problems. To Err Is Human breaks the silence that has surrounded medical errors and their consequenceâ€"but not by pointing fingers at caring health care professionals who make honest mistakes. After all, to err is human. Instead, this book sets forth a national agendaâ€"with state and local implicationsâ€"for reducing medical errors and improving patient safety through the design of a safer health system. This volume reveals the often startling statistics of medical error and the disparity between the incidence of error and public perception of it, given many patients' expectations that the medical profession always performs perfectly. A careful examination is made of how the surrounding forces of legislation, regulation, and market activity influence the quality of care provided by health care organizations and then looks at their handling of medical mistakes. Using a detailed case study, the book reviews the current understanding of why these mistakes happen. A key theme is that legitimate liability concerns discourage reporting of errorsâ€"which begs the question, "How can we learn from our mistakes?" Balancing regulatory versus market-based initiatives and public versus private efforts, the Institute of Medicine presents wide-ranging recommendations for improving patient safety, in the areas of leadership, improved data collection and analysis, and development of effective systems at the level of direct patient care. To Err Is Human asserts that the problem is not bad people in health careâ€"it is that good people are working in bad systems that need to be made safer. Comprehensive and straightforward, this book offers a clear prescription for raising the level of patient safety in American health care. It also explains how patients themselves can influence the quality of care that they receive once they check into the hospital. This book will be vitally important to federal, state, and local health policy makers and regulators, health professional licensing officials, hospital administrators, medical educators and students, health caregivers, health journalists, patient advocatesâ€"as well as patients themselves. First in a series of publications from the Quality of Health Care in America, a project initiated by the Institute of Medicine

Implementing safety practices in healthcare saves lives and improves the quality of care: it is therefore vital to apply good clinical practices, such as the WHO surgical checklist, to adopt the most appropriate measures for the prevention of assistance-related risks, and to identify the potential ones using tools such as reporting & learning systems. The culture of safety in the care environment and of human factors influencing it should be developed from the beginning of medical studies and in the first years of professional practice, in order to have the maximum impact on clinicians' and nurses' behavior. Medical errors tend to vary with the level of proficiency and experience, and this must be taken into account in adverse events prevention. Human factors assume a decisive importance in resilient organizations, and an understanding of risk control and containment is fundamental for all medical and surgical specialties. This open access book offers recommendations and examples of how to improve patient safety by changing practices, introducing organizational and technological innovations, and creating effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient, and equitable care systems, in order to spread the quality and patient safety culture among the new generation of healthcare professionals, and is intended for residents and young professionals in different clinical specialties.

Each year, hospital-acquired infections, prescribing and treatment errors, lost documents and test reports, communication failures, and other problems have caused thousands of deaths in the United States, added millions of days to patients' hospital stays, and cost Americans tens of billions of dollars. Despite (and sometimes because of) new medical information technology and numerous well-intentioned initiatives to address these problems, threats to patient safety remain, and in some areas are on the rise. In First, Do Less Harm, twelve health care professionals and researchers plus two former patients look at patient safety from a variety of perspectives, finding many of the proposed solutions to be inadequate or impractical. Several contributors to this book attribute the failure to confront patient safety concerns to the influence of the "market model" on medicine and emphasize the need for hospital-wide teamwork and greater involvement from frontline workers (from janitors and aides to nurses and physicians) in planning, implementing, and evaluating effective safety initiatives. Several chapters in First, Do Less Harm focus on the critical role of interprofessional and occupational practice in patient safety. Rather than focusing on the usual suspects-physicians, safety champions, or high level management-these chapters expand the list of "stakeholders" and patient safety advocates to include nurses, patient care assistants, and other staff, as well as the health care unions that may represent them. First, Do Less Harm also highlights workplace issues that negatively affect safety: including sleeplessness, excessive workloads, outsourcing of hospital cleaning, and lack of teamwork between physicians and other health care staff. In two chapters, experts explain why the promise of health care information technology to fix safety problems remains unrealized, with examples that are at once humorous and frightening. A book that will be required reading for physicians, nurses, hospital administrators, public health officers, quality and risk managers, healthcare educators, economists, and policymakers, First, Do Less Harm concludes with a list of twenty-seven paradoxes and challenges facing everyone interested in making care safe for both patients and those who care for them.