Patient Safety

What is patient safety?

Most of the health care provided in the U.S. is provided safely, without introducing harm to the patient. But medicine is complex, humans are fallible, and the risk of being harmed in a health care setting is high, even if actual harm is rare. By harm, we mean any unintended outcome to a patient that could have been avoided. For example, if a patient contracts an infection while in the hospital, and it is considered something that could have been prevented, that is a lapse in patient safety. Diagnostic delays or errors and medication errors are also common areas of concern in patient safety. Patient safety is a term that refers to both the field of expertise and the practices used in the field. It involves the use of safety science and systems thinking to create practices, procedures, and environments that enable the safest case and avoidance of harm.

National Patient Safety Foundation

Patient Safety Vision

Within the University of Maryland Medical System, patients will be kept safe from harm caused by avoidable medical errors.

Mission

To work as a system to keep our patients safe by improving processes that did or could have caused harm.

Purpose

The UMMS Patient Safety Program promotes a transparent, learning culture by empowering staff to participate in improving processes, and by providing structure for communicating and disseminating recommended changes, to keep our patients safe.

Strategy

We will proactively identify processes that might put our patients at risk for harm, and facilitate their improvement through collaboration, standardization, and implementation of best practices and safely integrated technology, across our healthcare system.

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