Patient Safety

In the 9th Scope of Work, QSource will collaborate with hospitals and nursing homes addressing those areas of patient safety where evidence exists on improving safety by improving healthcare processes and systems. Tennessee's hospitals and nursing homes can reach a common goal – improving the health, well-being and safety of their patients - by collaborating and sharing best practices and lessons learned.

Patient safety activities will focus on the following areas:

•	Reducing the incidence of MRSA infections
•	Reducing the incidence of pressure ulcers in hospitals and nursing homes
•	Reducing the incidence of physical restraints in nursing homes
•	Improving inpatient surgical safety and heart failure treatment in hospitals
•	Improving drug safety
•	Providing quality improvement technical assistance to nursing homes in need

Resources

• AHRQ Patient Safety Network (PSNet) is a new national Web-based resource featuring the latest news and essential resources on patient safety.
  
• CMS Hospital Quality Initiatives is the home page for resources related to hospital quality initiatives.
  
• HCAHPS Online is the resource Web site for the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Survey.
  
  • HCAHPS Survey Instrument
  • HCAHPS Phone Script
  • HCAHPS Cover Letters
• Mayo Clinic Table
• NCQA Table
• Potentially Inappropriate Medications (PIM)
• TeamSTEPPS™ is an evidence-based teamwork system aimed at optimizing patient outcomes by improving communication and other teamwork skills
  
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting public health activities in the United States.
  
• The Institute for Healthcare Improvement is an organization that works to lead and accelerate improvement by building the will for change, and cultivating promising concepts for improving patient care. 
  
• The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) is a nonprofit organization that educates the healthcare community and consumers about safe medication practices.
  
  • ISMP Medication Safety Self Assessment® for Antithrombotic Therapy in Hospitals
  • Failure Mode and Effects Analysis for Anticoagulants
• The National Guideline Clearinghouse™ (NGC) is a comprehensive database of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines and related documents.
  
• The National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) is a secure, Internet-based surveillance system that integrates patient and healthcare personnel safety surveillance systems managed by the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion (DHQP) at CDC. 
  
  Data collection tools:
  
  • Device-Associated Module
  • Medication-Associated Module
  • Procedure-Associated Module
    
• The National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF) is an independent, not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization that fosters collaboration on the issue of patient safety.
  
• The National Quality Forum (NQF) works to promote a common approach to measuring healthcare quality and fostering system-wide capacity for quality improvement.