The MedStar Institute for Quality and Safety and the Patient Safety Movement Foundation Partner to Eliminate Medical Errors in Hospitals
Medical errors are now the third leading cause of death in the United States
Columbia, MD –The MedStar Institute for Quality & Safety (MIQS) is partnering with the Patient Safety Movement Foundation to eliminate preventable patient deaths in hospitals. According to the Institute of Medicine, medical errors are quickly becoming a leading cause of death and injury to people across the globe. Preventable harm is ranked as the third leading cause of death in the United States and the fourteenth worldwide.
The mission of the MIQS is to partner with patients, their families, and those that take care of them to improve patient care, outcomes, and reduce the global burden of preventable harm. Although still young, the Institute is already achieving international recognition for its shared leadership model that reflects a genuine partnership between leaders, front line caregivers, patients, and family members. Through this shared leadership model and with six synergistic Centers of Expertise the Institute is improving outcomes and the delivery of care, both within MedStar Health and via strategic partnerships that impact health care across the world.
As a Partner, MIQS will work in alignment with the Patient Safety Movement Foundation to eliminate preventable patient deaths in hospitals:
- Spreading the PSMF’s mission and vision to MIQS members and network.
- Participating in the PSMF’s Actionable Patient Safety Solutions (APSS) workgroups and helping to identify subject matter experts to contribute to the development of aligned topics. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- Culture of Safety
- Falls & Fall Prevention
- Patient Safety Curriculum
- Person and Family Engagement
- Annually disseminating the PSMF’s APSS to MIQS members and network.
- Jointly partnering and supporting projects around related patient safety topics of interest (i.e. MIQS’s Six Centers of Expertise)
- Center for Open, Honest Communication (i.e. CANDOR)
- Center for Engaging Patients as Partners (i.e. PSMF to support ongoing MIQS projects around PFE; MIQS to participate in the PSMF’s PFE workgroup)
- International Training Center for Bloodless Medicine & Surgery (i.e. MIQS to provide the PSMF with annual updates regarding work with the World Patient Blood Management Network)
- Center for Improving Diagnosis in Healthcare
- Center for Healthcare Narratives (i.e. PSMF to disseminate “Please See Me” narrative to members and network; MIQS to link related patient stories around preventable medical errors)
- Center for Integrated Healthcare Learning (i.e. MIQS to participate in the PSMF’s Patient Safety Curriculum workgroup)
- Staying in touch regarding upcoming events, educational opportunities and speaking engagements pertaining to either parties. (PSMF’s Annual World Patient Safety, Science & Technology Summit)
“At the MedStar Institute for Quality & Safety, we understand the power of shared learning,” said David Mayer, MD, Executive Director, MIQS.“We look forward to working closely with the Patient Safety Movement Foundation to help eliminate preventable patient deaths together.”
More than 4.8 million people worldwide and 200,000 people in U.S. hospitals die every year in hospitals from errors that could have been prevented. Medical errors are now the third leading cause of death in the United States, behind only heart disease and cancer, and cost close to $1.44 trillion in the U.S. alone. The Patient Safety Movement Foundation is a global non-profit that is working with all stakeholders, including patients, healthcare providers, medical technology companies, government, employers, and private payers such as insurance companies. Their mission and public commitment is to eliminate preventable patient deaths in-hospitals. Their annual World Patient Safety, Science & Technology Summit presents specific, actionable solutions to meet patient safety challenges and highlights the hospitals’ commitments to implement Actionable Patient Safety Solutions and medical technology companies that have pledged to share data. Through the Patient Safety Movement Foundation’s network of committed hospitals, they have saved close to 100,000 lives in 2018 alone.
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About MedStar Institute for Quality and Safety
The mission of the Medstar Institute for Quality and Safety (MIQS) is to partner with patients, their families, and those that take care of them to improve patient care outcomes and reduce the global burden of preventable harm. Established by Medstar Health, the largest healthcare provider in Maryland and the Washington, D.C., region, MIQS provides a global infrastructure in which leaders, front-line care givers, patients and family members jointly develop, educate, assess, and advocate for patient safety and clinical quality initiatives. For more information, visit www.medstariqs.org.
About MedStar Health
MedStar Health is a not-for-profit health system dedicated to caring for people in Maryland and the Washington, D.C., region, while advancing the practice of medicine through education, innovation and research. MedStar’s 30,000 associates, 6,000 affiliated physicians, 10 hospitals, ambulatory care and urgent care centers, and the MedStar Health Research Institute are recognized regionally and nationally for excellence in medical care. As the medical education and clinical partner of Georgetown University, MedStar trains more than 1,100 medical residents annually. MedStar Health’s patient-first philosophy combines care, compassion and clinical excellence with an emphasis on customer service. For more information, visit MedStarHealth.org.
About The Patient Safety Movement Foundation
More than 200,000 people die every year in U.S. hospitals and 4.8 million worldwide in ways that could have been prevented. The Patient Safety Movement Foundation is a global non-profit which creates free tools for patients and hospitals. The Patient Safety Movement Foundation was established through the support of the Masimo Foundation for Ethics, Innovation, and Competition in Healthcare to reduce that number of preventable deaths to ZERO. Improving patient safety will require a collaborative effort from all stakeholders, including patients, healthcare providers, medical technology companies, government, employers, and private payers. The Patient Safety Movement Foundation works with all stakeholders to address the problems with actionable solutions for patient safety. The Foundation also convenes the World Patient Safety, Science & Technology Summit. The Summit brings together some of the world’s best minds for thought-provoking discussions and new ideas to challenge the status quo. By presenting specific, high-impact solutions to meet patient safety challenges, called Actionable Patient Safety Solutions, encouraging medical technology companies to share the data their products are purchased for, and asking hospitals to make commitments to implement Actionable Patient Safety Solutions, the Patient Safety Movement Foundation is working toward ZERO preventable deaths. Visit patientsafetymovement.org.