Patient Safety

A Patient Poll from the Institute for Good Medicine at the Pennsylvania Medical Society conducted in 2008 indicates that the majority of Pennsylvanians either feel safer today or no worse off than 10 years ago. 

Ever since Act 13 of 2002, Pennsylvania has become one of the national health care leaders in protecting our residents from preventable mistakes.   

Thanks to the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority, our state is studying how errors happen (including near mistakes) and what steps can be taken so those errors don’t happen again.   

And, our state is researching ways to improve health care through the use of electronic health information. Both the Pennsylvania eHealth Initiative and ConnectTheDocs, a broadband initiative of the Pennsylvania Medical Society, seek to promote and support health information technology, which is widely believed to contribute to a reduction in medical errors. 

Plus, we shouldn’t forget several other factors at hand to improve patient safety. Today, Pennsylvania physicians have specific continuing medical education requirements related to patient safety as part of their licensing requirement. A collaborative project between the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority and the Pennsylvania Medical Society has created a series of patient safety CME called “Studies in Patient Safety.” 

And, let’s not forget to applaud the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council for its efforts in data collection and awareness of related areas of concern. Because of this data collection, our state has taken a serious look at problems associated with hospital-acquired infections, and today our hospitals are working to address those issues.   

With all that has happened during the past several years, the Institute for Good Medicine at the Pennsylvania Medical Society recently opted to poll Pennsylvanians about their perception of patient safety today. 

The Patient Poll from the Institute for Good Medicine asked the following question: “In recent years there has been increased attention to the issue of patient safety and the reduction of medical errors in hospitals.  Please select the statement below that best fits your current opinion on patient safety.” 

• 41 percent chose “I feel that hospital safety has improved in the last 10 years.” 
• 41.7 percent chose “I feel that hospital safety is about the same as it was 10 years ago.” 
• 17.2 percent chose “I feel that hospital safety is worse than it was 10 years ago.” 

While this is only a baseline and there is still work to be done, it’s reasonable to believe that publicity around medical errors helped to raise awareness of the need for improvement. Similarly, it’s also reasonable to believe that the low percentage of Pennsylvanians who believe things are worse now than 10 years ago is the result of publicity around efforts to improve patient safety. 

The Institute for Good Medicine at the Pennsylvania Medical Society recommends the following websites for additional information. 

• Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority
• Pennsylvania Medical Society 
• "Studies in Patient Safety"
• ConnectTheDocs 
• Pennsylvania eHealth Initiative 
• Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council
• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Patient Safety Network 
• National Patient Safety Foundation