Patient Safety Planning Tools / Tracking
Identify outcome measures
- Identify outcome measures for each intervention to see if new changes are improving the way you deliver care. For example, if changing the process for ordering vaccines, track the number of wrong vaccinations administered.
- See Objectives for more about setting appropriate goals before you start testing a change.
Use data to track change over time
- Compare safety performance at your organization to objectives and past performance
- Track reported “close calls” and areas of potential harm, not only adverse events
- Focus on processes that are most prone to adverse events such as care transitions, time-pressured decisions or high-alert medication prescriptions
- Keep track of these reports to help with setting goals for improvement
Make data available
- Consider tracking progress with a visual “dashboard” that all staff can see
- Set regular times for leadership to review progress
Learn from the data
- Was there an improvement? Can you replicate and/or spread the change?
- Was there no improvement? Try to determine why not. Consider an alternative approach to preventing the safety hazard or concern.
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.