by Miriam Marcus-Smith, RN, MHA Program Director, Washington Patient Safety Coalition Keeping a personal medicine list is an activity that combines two of the Washington Patient Safety Coalition’s priorities: engaging patients and families in their care, and improving medication-related safety. Here’s what should be on a medicine list, at a minimum: the name of the…

[two_third] by Sharon I. Eloranta, MD[br] Medical Director, Quality and Safety Initiatives[br] George W. Merck/Institute for Healthcare Improvement Fellow[br] Qualis Health [br][br] These were the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in a speech to the Medical Committee for Human Rights, 1966. Many of today’s health care providers were not even born then –…

[two_third] by Jennifer Bayersdorfer, MHA[br] System Director, Clinical Effectiveness & Quality[br] Providence Health & Services [br][br] I grew up in a small rural town in northwest Wisconsin. It was the kind of town where an unplanned visit to the emergency department is followed by three calls from people who spotted your car at the hospital,…

Benjamin Franklin knew what he was talking about. As our healthcare system faces a number of challenges, the focus is appropriately shifting toward prevention of harm. Health care costs are rising and, as a result, health care reform is well underway. To date, cost containment mechanisms have been largely focused on limiting patient access to higher cost services and medications. However, this method often leads to preventable patient harm.

Confession is so good for the soul! As I’ve told people recently, although the focus of the Washington Patient Safety Coalition has been on improving safety for patients since its inception in 2002 – after all, we are the Washington Patient Safety Coalition — until last year we were heavily provider-centric.