With the COVID pandemic waning, there’s been renewed nationwide attention on the risks to patient safety experienced during care encounters. In the nearly quarter century since the Institute of Medicine’s landmark report, “To Err is Human,” scant progress has been made in reducing the risk of medical mistakes in healthcare institutions.  

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The stakes are high. Nearly one-quarter of all medical encounters are reported to involve some kind of patient safety issue, and a significant percentage of those result in risk to patients’ health and even death. Beyond the risk to patients, medical errors result in billions of dollars in additional costs for the nation’s healthcare system.  

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The cards are not stacked in safety’s favor. The well-being of patients often lies in the hands of the clinicians who directly handle their care, and the pressures and psychological stress those professionals are facing now are significant factors exacerbating the risk of medical errors. The confluence of these trends increases the need for organizations to efficiently address patient safety now.  

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More healthcare organizations are renewing their efforts to improve patient safety, looking to revamp processes, better equip clinicians and ease their burdens, and effectively use technological capabilities to predict and anticipate potential problems. Our package of stories looks at the scope of current challenges and how organizations need to address them. 

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• Fred Bazzoli, Editor in Chief

As you dive into this COVERstory, we hope you find it becomes a reference helping you: 

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• 1. Realize patient safety issues still dog the industry the nearly quarter century since the landmark IoM report, and the industry needs to understand the scope of the issue, which can inform the need to address the problem. 
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• 2. Identify how clinician burnout is looming as a key factor influencing the risk to patient safety. Clinicians nationwide are reporting symptoms such as depression, feeling overwhelmed and overworked. The cover story series highlights the necessity of solving burnout and relieving its impact on clinicians. 
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• 3. Take tangible steps to advance organizations' use of technology to first, relieve clinician burden, and second, to provide tools that make clinicians’ jobs easier. 
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• 4. Recognize the correlations between patient safety and workforce well-being and determing how they must be addressed in tandem by healthcare administrators. 

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HDM teams up with experts to discuss critical factors influencing patient safety in healthcare... Read the article.

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Read more:

• • Creating a just culture to enhance patient safety, Justin Campbell
• • Why patient safety must be at the top of healthcare's priority list, Justin Campbell

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HDM teams up with experts as they discuss the fallout on patient safety as a result of the pandemic... Read the article.

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HDM teams up with experts to discuss the stakeholders in patient safety, their responsibilities, and processes that need to be changed... Read the article

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Read more:

• • Why provider quality, risk departments need to work closely, RLDatix staff
• • Assessing and assisting clinicians to enhance a culture of safety, Fred Bazzoli
• • High-reliability lessons that may surprise you, Jeff Salvon-Harman, MD

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HDM teams up with experts as they discuss technology's role in helping to deliver care environments that are safer for patients, families and care teams... Read the article

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Read more:

• • Technology's potential role in achieving more patient safety, Fred Bazzoli
• • Facilitating safer care through patient safety & policy data integration, RLDatix staff
• • Technology can cause a digital divide for patient safety, Fred Bazzoli

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HDM teams up with experts to wrap up the 5-part series on patient safety by covering action leaders can take today to have an impact on patient safety tomorrow... Read the article

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Read more:

• • From patient safety awareness to action: Time for a reset, Tejal Gandhi, MD
• • Patient safety issues underscore the urgent need for incident reporting, Justin Campbell