Patient Safety Planning Tools / Testing
Respond quickly to concerns with a small pilot
- Collect information about what is going wrong and why the problem is happening (See Objectives for tools to guide this process)
- Not sure where to start? This "change package" offers examples of potential improvements to test
Base interventions on the best available evidence
- Consider best practices published in literature and professional guidelines
- Monitor patient safety alerts
- Learn from other organizations’ successes and failures
Adapt interventions based on testing results
- Track results and adjust accordingly
- If the intervention is not working, stop here and consider alternative approaches. If it works well, expand it to other areas of the organization.
- Ask patients and family members for feedback on the intervention
Plan for potential drawbacks when relying on technology interventions
- Technology can be a powerful patient safety tool, but it is important for staff to think critically about each case. For example, a staff member may notice that a patient is not clinically able to take a medication that is listed in an electronic system.
This page was adapted from the Betsy Lehman Center's Patient Safety Navigator. Visit the Navigator website to learn more about analyzing adverse events, communicating in the aftermath of serious harm, and reporting medical errors to state and federal agencies.