/ en Fri, 25 Apr 2025 20:17:24 -0500 Wed, 26 Mar 25 13:48:17 -0500 <div class="container"><div class="row"><div class="col-md-8"><p>Hearst Newspapers contacted AHA seeking comment for a national project spearheaded by a group of regional Hearst reporters that focuses on incidences of retained surgical items (RSI).</p><p>The reporters say their research using data from state health departments and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services show that there are hundreds of RSI cases reported annually, among the tens of millions of annual surgeries across the country. The reporters pointed out that their data show cases are relatively rare but can result in additional surgery or other complications.</p><p>We are aware that some of the journalists working on this project write stories for the Houston Chronicle, San Antonio News Express, San Francisco Chronicle, Albany Times Union of New York, Connecticut Post and New Haven Register. However, Hearst owns 26 dailies and 52 weeklies so the story could appear more widely. The regional reporters likely will seek to localize the story for their respective communities and have been reaching out to hospitals and health systems around the country to ask what policies they use to prevent instances of retained surgical items.</p><h2>AHA RESPONSE AND RESOURCES</h2><p>The AHA shared the following statement with Hearst Newspapers from AHA Chief Physician Executive Chris DeRienzo, M.D. “Hospitals and health systems have ramped up their efforts to enhance patient safety and will continue implementing effective, evidence-based approaches toward the goal of eliminating unplanned retention of surgical items (RSI). With more than <a href="/infographics/2024-06-13-hospitals-are-cornerstones-their-communities-infographic" target="_blank" title="Hospitals Are Cornerstones of Their Communities Infographic">28 million surgeries</a> performed at community hospitals in 2023, the data show that the likelihood of patients experiencing this kind of event is extremely rare. But there is more work to do. To that end, hospitals and health systems are embracing new strategies to improve the safety of surgical care, sharing best practices with each other, upgrading equipment and employing new technologies that enhance patient outcomes in their commitment to delivering top-tier patient care around-the-clock, 365 days a year.”</p><p>Hospitals and health systems across America and their dedicated care teams strive to deliver safe, high-quality care to every patient, continually identifying what drives better outcomes and then implementing changes to improve patient care. As you know, the AHA launched its <a href="/aha-patient-safety-initiative" target="_blank" title="Patient Safety Initiative Website">Patient Safety Initiative</a> in 2023 to reaffirm hospital and health system leadership and commitment to patient safety. Please visit the Patient Safety Initiative <a href="/aha-patient-safety-initiative" target="_blank" title="Patient safety webpage">webpage</a>, which includes reports, member stories and data-driven analyses highlighting the excellent work and improvements that hospitals and health systems are leading to create a culture of safety for patients and staff.</p><h2>WHAT YOU CAN DO</h2><ul><li>Please share this Advisory with your quality, patient safety and communications teams, government relations leaders and other key executives.</li><li>Prepare to share how your hospital works 24/7 to provide safe, high-quality care.</li></ul><h2>FURTHER QUESTIONS<strong> </strong></h2><p>If you have further questions, please contact Sharon Cohen, AHA senior associate director of media relations, at <a href="mailto:scohen@aha.org" target="_blank" title="Sharon Cohen email ">scohen@aha.org</a>.</p></div><div class="col-md-4"><a href="/system/files/media/file/2025/03/member-advisory-for-hospital-and-health-system-leaders-3-26-2025.pdf"><img src="/sites/default/files/2025-03/cover-member-advisory-for-hospital-and-health-system-leaders-3-26-2025.png" data-entity-uuid data-entity-type="file" alt="Member Advisory: Member Advisory for Hospital and Health System Leaders PDF" width="NaN" height="NaN"></a></div></div></div> Wed, 26 Mar 2025 13:48:17 -0500 Patient Safety Initiative /aha-center-health-innovation-market-scan/2025-03-25-top-4-takeaways-new-aha-safety-insights-report <div class="container"><div class="row"><div class="col-md-8"><img src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/Top-4-Takeaways-from-New-AHA-Safety-Insights-Report.png" data-entity-uuid="0033e72b-2c55-4754-ac0a-facda1a20ca4" data-entity-type="file" alt="Top 4 Takeaways from New AHA Safety Insights Report. The cover of the AHA "Insights Report: Improvement in the Safety Culture Linked to Better Patient and Staff Outcomes" overlayed on an image of a surgery being performed by four clinicians." width="1200" height="677"><p>Over the past six months, the AHA and its data partners have produced two comprehensive reports that document the progress hospitals and health systems continue to make on key patient safety measures.</p><p>In September 2024, the AHA partnered with Vizient on a <a href="/guidesreports/2024-09-12-new-analysis-shows-hospitals-performance-key-patient-safety-measures-surpassing-pre-pandemic-levels">report</a> showing that numerous outcome measures of health care quality and patient safety — including decreasing risk of mortality and lower levels of health care-associated infections — are improving while hospitals care for more patients with significant health needs.</p><p>Meanwhile, the newly released Insights Report, <a href="/guidesreports/2025-03-11-improvement-safety-culture-linked-better-patient-and-staff-outcomes">“Improvement in Safety Culture Linked to Better Patient and Staff Outcomes,”</a> highlights progress on additional outcome measures of patient safety including some that reflect the ongoing work led by nurses to protect patients.</p><p>The latest report, created in collaboration between the AHA and Press Ganey, shows clear improvement on the experience of both patients and the health care workforce. It also shows improvements in safety culture, a leading indicator of better safety outcomes and better experiences for patients and staff.</p><h2>4 Takeaways from the New Data</h2><h3><span>1</span> <span>|</span> 4 key quality and safety areas are improving.</h3><p>Hospitals are performing at or better than prepandemic levels on multiple quality and safety measures, according to the March report. The findings are based on the Press Ganey National Database Quality Indicators reflecting quality measures reported by more than 25,000 units across 2,430 acute care inpatient hospitals. The data show improvements from their mid-pandemic levels in four key measurement areas:</p><ul><li>Catheter-associated urinary tract infections</li><li>Central line-associated bloodstream infections.</li><li>Patient falls that result in harm.</li><li>The number of patients who develop hospital-acquired pressure injuries such as bedsores.</li></ul><h3><span>2</span> <span>|</span> Patient experience and safety improvements are being noticed.</h3><p>The report’s data, based on responses from 13 million patients, show steady gains in their experience of care and their perceived safety of care after a drop during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drivers of these improvements include patient perception of good teamwork among staff, attention and responsiveness to patient needs and communication among patients and clinical care team members.</p><h3><span>3</span> <span>|</span> Patients are attuned to team dynamics and interpersonal competencies.</h3><p>One key factor driving improvements in patients’ perceptions of care is the teamwork of their caregivers. Across clinical areas — inpatient and outpatient, surgical and medical, emergency and scheduled — the single largest driver of a patient’s likelihood to recommend a hospital, facility or provider is the perception of how well their care team members work together, the report notes. Better teamwork has long been shown to drive better outcomes.</p><p>Similarly, patients who perceive that their care was safe are 2.5 to 3 times more likely to recommend their hospital to others. Their perceptions of safety are based on their own interactions with hospital team members, their observations regarding practices such as handwashing and cleanliness, and how they see team members interacting with one another to deliver care.</p><h3><span>4</span> <span>|</span> Workforce experience and well-being are improving.</h3><p>As the enormous strain of the COVID-19 pandemic recedes, the health care workforce is beginning to rebound as well. Press Ganey data from 1.7 million health care workforce members show a rise in their resiliency and perceived work experiences. A resilient workforce is essential in health care, given the complex and high stakes nature of the work.</p><p>Hospitals that score higher on team member engagement surveys also see higher patient experience scores reported from patients. This correlation is becoming more pronounced every year, with the top-performing quartile of hospitals on staff engagement in 2023 scoring in the 80th percentile on patients’ likelihood to recommend.</p><hr><h2>Learn More</h2><p>A key goal of the <a href="/aha-patient-safety-initiative">AHA’s Patient Safety Initiative</a> is to help hospitals and health systems improve their safety culture. Launched in 2023, the initiative catalyzes hospitals’ and health systems’ collective expertise and momentum for improvement and focuses on (1) safety culture, (2) identifying and addressing disparities in health care outcomes and (3) the workforce’s well-being.</p></div><div class="col-md-4"><p><a href="/center" title="Visit the AHA Center for Health Innovation landing page."><img src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/logo-aha-innovation-center-color-sm.jpg" data-entity-uuid="7ade6b12-de98-4d0b-965f-a7c99d9463c5" alt="AHA Center for Health Innovation logo" width="721" height="130" data-entity- type="file" class="align-center"></a></p><p><a href="/center/form/innovation-subscription"><img src="/sites/default/files/2019-04/Market_Scan_Call_Out_360x300.png" data-entity-uuid data-entity-type alt width="360" height="300"></a></p></div></div></div>.field_featured_image { position: absolute; overflow: hidden; clip: rect(0 0 0 0); height: 1px; width: 1px; margin: -1px; padding: 0; border: 0; } .featured-image{ position: absolute; overflow: hidden; clip: rect(0 0 0 0); height: 1px; width: 1px; margin: -1px; padding: 0; border: 0; } h2 { color: #9d2235; } Tue, 25 Mar 2025 06:15:00 -0500 Patient Safety Initiative /news/perspective/2025-03-14-prioritizing-patient-safety-and-quality-care-every-day-everyone <p>It’s hard to believe, but this week marks five years since President Trump declared the COVID-19 pandemic a national emergency and related lockdowns across the globe turned the world we knew upside down.</p><p>We remember all too well how the surging pandemic changed the way we lived, worked, shopped, educated our children and affected so many other aspects of everyday life.  </p><p>We also remember the bravery, courage and heroics that health care teams across the country demonstrated each and every day as they cared for their friends and neighbors during the most challenging conditions.</p><p>Former AHA Board Chair Mindy Estes, M.D., who helped lead and inspire the field during the first year of COVID-19, said during that difficult period, “no virus can defeat the human spirit. Because we are stronger than this monumental moment in history, and we are not giving up the fight.”</p><p>Her successor, Rod Hochman, M.D., who served as AHA Chair in 2021, has described the performance of hospitals and health systems during the pandemic as the “finest hour” in American health care history.</p><p>While the nation’s daily recognitions of our caregivers have stopped, our respect and admiration for all the caregivers who served and continue to serve on the front lines caring for patients and communities will never be forgotten.</p><p>The same level of commitment to patient safety and delivering quality care continues today. Every day in every hospital and health system across America, dedicated care teams strive to deliver safe, high-quality care to every patient, continually identifying what drives better outcomes and then implementing changes to improve patient care.</p><p>This week, which is <a href="/patient-safety-awareness-week" target="_blank" title="Paient Safety Awareness Week">Patient Safety Awareness Week</a>, the AHA released a <a href="/news/headline/2025-03-12-new-report-shows-improvements-patient-safety-and-workforce-resilience" target="_blank" title="AHA Press Ganey Report">report</a> with Press Ganey showing that patients and the health care workforce report improvements in safety, care quality and resilience.</p><p>Some key findings include:</p><ul><li><strong>13 million</strong> patients surveyed after hospital stays report improvements in their <strong>overall care experience and perception of safety.</strong></li><li>Surveys of <strong>1.7 million members of the</strong> <strong>health care workforce show a rebound in their reported experience, resilience and perceptions of safety culture, </strong>following the enormous strain of the COVID-19 pandemic.</li><li>Alongside improvements in safety culture, patient experience and employee experience, there were <strong>improvements in key safety outcomes like falls and infections </strong>—<strong> across more than</strong> <strong>25,000 units in 2,430 hospitals</strong>.</li></ul><p>The report demonstrates continued positive trends for hospitals and health systems that were outlined in a <a href="/guidesreports/2024-09-12-new-analysis-shows-hospitals-performance-key-patient-safety-measures-surpassing-pre-pandemic-levels" target="_blank" title="AHA, Vizient Report">September 2024 report we released in conjunction with Vizient</a> that showed a decrease in adverse patient safety events along with increasing health care screenings — even as hospitals are caring for more higher acuity patients.</p><p>The reports are part of the AHA’s Patient Safety Initiative, which was launched in 2023 to reaffirm hospital and health system leadership and commitment to patient safety. The initiative provides hospitals with tools and data to advance patient safety, offers a platform for sharing their stories of improvement with peers, and highlights examples of innovation that support, spread and sustain safety improvement.</p><p>You can see more about these efforts on <a href="/aha-patient-safety-initiative" target="_blank" title="AHA Patient Safety Initiative web page">AHA’s webpage</a>, where among other resources you can view <a href="/leading-safety-aha-quest-quality-series#Q4QVideoSeries" target="_blank" title="Leading for Safety video series">Leading for Safety, a video series</a> hosted by Dr. Estes that explores how health care leaders can drive safer, higher-quality care by fostering a culture of safety and innovation.</p><p>Health care is about people caring for other people.<strong> </strong>While hospitals and health systems continue to make progress on their efforts to advance quality and safety, we know that the journey is far from over. Hospitals and health systems will never stop working to advance patient safety and quality. It has been — and will always be — our field’s top priority.</p> Fri, 14 Mar 2025 08:22:09 -0500 Patient Safety Initiative /news/headline/2025-03-12-new-report-shows-improvements-patient-safety-and-workforce-resilience <p>The AHA and Press Ganey March 12 released a new report showing hospital and health system patients reporting improvements in overall care experience and perception of safety alongside gains in key safety outcomes. It also shows that the health care workforce has had a rebound in their reported experience, resilience and perceptions of safety culture.</p><p>The insights report, “<a href="/guidesreports/2025-03-11-improvement-safety-culture-linked-better-patient-and-staff-outcomes" target="_blank">Improvement in Safety Culture Linked to Better Patient and Staff Outcomes</a>,” highlights how hospitals that foster a strong culture of safety also report a better experience for patients and the health care workforce.</p><p>Key report findings include: </p><ul><li>13 million patients surveyed after hospital stays report improvements in their overall care experience and perception of safety.</li><li>Surveys of 1.7 million members of the health care workforce show a rebound in their reported experience, resilience and perceptions of safety culture, following the enormous strain of the COVID-19 pandemic.</li><li>Improvements in key safety outcomes like falls and infections across more than 25,000 units in 2,430 hospitals.</li></ul><p>“Every day in hospitals across America, dedicated care teams strive to deliver safe, high-quality care to every patient. This commitment involves continually identifying what drives better outcomes and then implementing changes to improve patient care,” <a href="/press-releases/2025-03-12-report-reveals-link-between-health-care-workforce-well-being-patient-experience-and-safety-outcomes" target="_blank">said</a> AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack. “At the heart of health care are people caring for other people, which is why hospitals support and invest in the success and well-being of their workforce. The latest Press Ganey data highlight that care is getting safer as the experience of both patients and the health care workforce improves.”</p><p>The report, released during <a href="/patient-safety-awareness-week" target="_blank">Patient Safety Awareness Week</a> (March 9-15), demonstrates continued positive trends for hospitals and health systems that were outlined in a September 2024 <a href="/guidesreports/2024-09-12-new-analysis-shows-hospitals-performance-key-patient-safety-measures-surpassing-pre-pandemic-levels" target="_blank">report</a> AHA released in conjunction with Vizient. That report showed a decrease in adverse patient safety events along with increasing health care screenings — even as hospitals are caring for more higher acuity patients.</p><p>The reports are part of the <a href="/aha-patient-safety-initiative" target="_blank">AHA’s Patient Safety Initiative</a> that was launched in 2023 to reaffirm hospital and health system leadership and commitment to patient safety. The initiative provides hospitals with tools and data to advance patient safety, offers a platform for sharing their stories of improvement with peers, and highlights examples of innovation that support, spread and sustain safety improvement.</p> Wed, 12 Mar 2025 14:22:49 -0500 Patient Safety Initiative /guidesreports/2025-03-11-improvement-safety-culture-linked-better-patient-and-staff-outcomes <div class="container"> .container h2{ color:#003087; } <div class="row"><div class="col-md-4"><h3>Insights Report</h3><p>Every day, in every hospital across America, care teams work to provide safe, high-quality care to each and every patient. Part of that work includes continually identifying what drives better outcomes, and then implementing changes to improve patient care.</p><p>AHA’s insights report series features learnings gained in collaboration with data partners to better analyze hospital and health system progress on patient safety. In September 2024, AHA partnered with Vizient to release a <a href="/guidesreports/2024-09-12-new-analysis-shows-hospitals-performance-key-patient-safety-measures-surpassing-pre-pandemic-levels" title="View the report: New Analysis Shows Hospitals Improving Performance on Key Patient Safety Measures Surpassing Pre-pandemic Levels">report</a> showing that numerous outcome measures of health care quality and patient safety — including mortality and healthcare-associated infections — are improving while hospitals care for more patients with significant health care needs.</p><p>The latest insights report, created in collaboration with Press Ganey, highlights progress on additional outcome measures of patient safety including some that reflect the ongoing work nurses lead to protect patients. In addition, Press Ganey’s comprehensive data shows clear improvement on the experience of both patients and the health care workforce. It also shows improvements in safety culture, which is a leading indicator of better safety outcomes and better experiences for patients and staff.</p></div><div class="col-md-4"><div class="panel module-typeC"><div class="panel-heading"><h3 class="text-align-center panel-title">Key Insights</h3></div><div class="panel-body"><h4 class="text-align-center">Data in this report show that:</h4> ol.IRolNumBox li { counter-increment: list; list-style-type: none; position: relative; margin-bottom: 15px; } ol.IRolNumBox li:before { color: #fff; content: counter(list); left:-35px; position: absolute; text-align: center; width: 30px; height:30px; background-color:#69b3e7; padding:0px; border-radius: 5px; padding:0px 0px 0px 0px ; font-weight:700; font-size:20px; top:-5px; } <ol class="IRolNumBox"><li>Hospitals are performing at or better than pre-pandemic levels on multiple measures of quality and patient safety, including patient falls and pressure injuries (i.e., bed sores) that reflect work led by nurses to care for patients.</li><li>Millions of patients report that their overall care experience is improving.</li><li>Press Ganey data from more than 1 million members of the health care workforce show a rebound from pandemic lows in engagement, resilience and safety culture.</li><li>Patient safety, patient experience, workforce experience, and well-being are all tied together by a hospital or health system’s culture of safety. Across clinical settings — the single largest driver of a patient’s reported experience of care is how well their care team members work together. Better teamwork has long been shown to drive better outcomes.</li></ol></div></div></div><div class="col-md-4"><div><a class="btn btn-wide btn-primary" href="/system/files/media/file/2025/03/AHA-Insights-Report-Improvement-in-Safety-Culture.pdf" target="_blank" title="Download the print version of the Insights Report: Improvement in Safety Culture Linked to Better Patient and Staff Outcomes">Download the Report PDF</a></div><div><a class="btn btn-wide btn-primary" href="/press-releases/2025-03-12-report-reveals-link-between-health-care-workforce-well-being-patient-experience-and-safety-outcomes" title="View the Press Release: Report Reveals Link Between Health Care Workforce Well-being, Patient Experience and Safety Outcomes in Hospitals">View the Press Release</a></div><div><a class="btn btn-wide btn-primary" href="/aha-patient-safety-initiative" target="_blank" title="Click here to visit the AHA Patient Safety Initiative landing page.">Learn More about the AHA Patient Safety Initiative</a></div><div><a href="/system/files/media/file/2025/03/AHA-Insights-Report-Improvement-in-Safety-Culture.pdf" target="_blank" title="Download the print version of the Insights Report: Improvement in Safety Culture Linked to Better Patient and Staff Outcomes"><img src="/sites/default/files/2025-03/PSW-PG-Report-Cover-352x456.jpg" alt="Cover image of the Insights Report: Improvement in Safety Culture Linked to Better Patient and Staff Outcomes" width="352" height="456"></a></div></div></div><div class="row"><div class="col-md-12"><h2>Evidence in Key Areas Show Care is Getting Safer</h2><p>The Press Ganey National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI) dataset reflects quality measures reported by 25,652 units across 2,430 inpatient acute care hospitals. Analysis of four key measures in NDNQI data includes catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI), central lineassociated bloodstream infection (CLABSI), patient falls that result in harm, the number of patients who develop hospital-acquired pressure injuries (HAPI), also known as bed sores. The analysis shows the incidence of all measures have declined since their pandemic peaks, with nearly all measures across all units back to or better than pre-pandemic levels.</p><div class="col-md-12"><img src="/sites/default/files/2025-03/PSW-Evidence-in-Key-Areas-img1-1120x372.jpg" alt="Medical-surgical / Critical care; Fall Rate: Rate of Patient Falls from 2019 to 2024 between both | CLABSI: Rate of Infections from 2019 to 2024 between both" width="1120" height="372"></div><div class="col-md-12"><img src="/sites/default/files/2025-03/PSW-Evidence-in-Key-Areas-img2-1120x370.jpg" alt="Medical-surgical / Critical care; CAUTI Rate: Rate of Infections from 2019 to 2024 between both | HAPI: percentage of Patients from 2019 to 2024 between both" width="1120" height="370"></div><p><em><small><strong>Source:</strong> ©2025 Press Ganey. All rights reserved; a PG Forsta company.</small></em></p><p><em><small><strong>Note:</strong> Falls are measured as total patient falls per 1,000 patient days; CLASBI is measured as central line-associated bloodstream infections per 1,000 central line days; CAUTI is measured as catheter-associated urinary tract infections per 1,000 catheter days; and HAPI prevalence is measured as the percentage of surveyed patients with hospital-acquired pressure injuries.</small></em></p></div><div class="col-md-12"><h2>Patients Say Their Care Experience and Perception of Safety are Improving</h2><p>Press Ganey works on behalf of 75% of U.S. acute care hospitals and medical practices across the country to survey patients regarding their care experiences and gain insights into how hospitals are working to deliver safe and effective care. Included in the surveys are questions that explicitly ask patients about their perception of staff’s efforts to keep them safe, along with questions about other facets of care that contribute to greater safety, such as teamwork among staff, attention and responsiveness to patient needs, and communication between patients and members of the clinical care team. Importantly, the data for this report, based on responses from 13 million patients, show steady gains in their perceptions of both experience of care and safety of care after a drop due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Results show hospitals and health systems are on the path to returning to pre-pandemic levels of safety.</p><img src="/sites/default/files/2025-03/PSW-Patients-Say-img1-1120x486.jpg" alt="National trends in patient experience: Likelihood to Recommend | Ambulatory surgery, Medical Practice, Inpatient, Emergency department - data between 64.5 to 85.3 between 2019 and Q1 of 2024" width="1120" height="486"><p><em><small><strong>Source:</strong> ©2025 Press Ganey. All rights reserved; a PG Forsta company.</small></em></p><p>One of the key factors driving improvements in patients’ perceptions of care is the teamwork of their caregivers. Across clinical areas — inpatient and outpatient, surgical and medical, emergency and scheduled — the single largest driver of a patient’s likelihood to recommend a hospital, facility or provider is perception on how well their care team members work together. Better teamwork has long been shown to drive better outcomes.</p> .IRcallOut01 { border: solid 2px #003087; padding:0px; overflow: auto; } .IRcallOut01 h2, .IRcallOut01>p, .IRcallOut01 h3{ text-align:center; } .IRcallOut01 h3{ background-color: #003087; color:#fff; padding:15px; } .IRcallOut01Insert{ background-color:#f6f6f6; padding: 5px 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; } .IRcallOut01 h4{ border-radius: 5px; padding:10px 10px 5px 10px; color:#fff; display: inline-block; margin-top:5px; margin-left: 15px; } .IRcallOut01 h4.IRcallOut01Red{ background-color:#d50032; } .IRcallOut01 h4.IRcallOut01Blue{ background-color:#69b3e7; } .IRcallOut01 h4.IRcallOut01LBlue{ background-color:#307fe2; } .IRcallOut01 h4.IRcallOut01Green{ background-color:#005844; } .IRcallOut01 h4.IRcallOut01Yellow{ background-color:#eaaa00; } .IRcallOut01 h4.IRcallOut01DRed{ background-color:#651d32; } .IRcallOut01 ul li:nth-child(1){ font-weight:700; color:#003087; } <div class="col-md-12 IRcallOut01"><h2>What earns patients’ confidence and loyalty?</h2><p>Patients are attuned to team dynamics and interpersonal competencies.</p><h3>National analysis of key drivers of likely to recommend by setting</h3><div class="col-sm-6 col-md-4"><div class="IRcallOut01Insert"><h4 class="IRcallOut01Red">Emergency</h4><ul><li>Staff worked well together</li><li>Cared about you as a person</li><li>Attention to your needs</li><li>Treat with courtesy/respect</li></ul></div></div><div class="col-sm-6 col-md-4"><div class="IRcallOut01Insert"><h4 class="IRcallOut01LBlue">Inpatient</h4><ul><li>Staff worked well together</li><li>Response to concerns</li><li>Attention to your needs</li><li>Attitudes toward requests</li></ul></div></div><div class="col-sm-6 col-md-4"><div class="IRcallOut01Insert"><h4 class="IRcallOut01Blue">Med Practice</h4><ul><li>Staff worked well together</li><li>Concern for questions/worries</li><li>Explanation of condition/problem</li><li>Include in decisions</li></ul></div></div><div class="col-sm-6 col-md-4"><div class="IRcallOut01Insert"><h4 class="IRcallOut01Green">Clinic</h4><ul><li>Staff worked well together</li><li>Treat with respect/dignity</li><li>Response to concerns</li><li>Trust skill of staff</li></ul></div></div><div class="col-sm-6 col-md-4"><div class="IRcallOut01Insert"><h4 class="IRcallOut01Yellow">Amb. Surgery</h4><ul><li>Staff worked well together</li><li>Response to concerns</li><li>Nurses’ concern for comfort</li><li>Provider response to concerns/questions</li></ul></div></div><div class="col-sm-6 col-md-4"><div class="IRcallOut01Insert"><h4 class="IRcallOut01DRed">Urgent Care</h4><ul><li>Staff worked well together</li><li>Provider listened</li><li>Explanation of condition/problem</li><li>Include in decisions</li></ul></div></div></div><p><em><small><strong>Source:</strong> ©2025 Press Ganey. All rights reserved; a PG Forsta company.</small></em></p><p>Similarly, patients who perceive that their care was safe are 2.5 to 3 times more likely to recommend their hospital to others. Their perceptions of safety are based on their own interactions with hospital team members, their observations regarding practices such as handwashing and cleanliness, and how they see team members interacting with one another to deliver care. Specifically, when asked about their confidence in the care they received and their willingness to recommend a hospital to others, patients ranked hospitals more highly when they perceived the hospital team to be working well together and to be attentive to the patients’ needs and questions.</p></div><div class="col-md-12"><h2>Workforce Experience and Well-being are Improving</h2><p>At its core, health care is a uniquely human experience centered around people caring for other people. This is why hospitals and health systems pay close attention to and invest in the well-being of their workforce. An energized and engaged workforce improves the care provided to patients, the physical and psychological wellbeing of patients, and how patients perceive the work to keep them safe. As the enormous strain of the COVID-19 pandemic recedes, the health care workforce is beginning to rebound as well. Press Ganey data from 1.7 million members of the health care workforce show a rise in their reported experience and resiliency. A resilient workforce is essential in health care, given the complex and high stakes nature of the work.</p><div class="col-md-12"><img src="/sites/default/files/2025-03/PSW-Workforce-Experience-img1-1120x609.jpg" alt="Gaining ground in resilience: Resilience and its sub-components of activation (meaning in work) and decompression (ability to disconnect) are on an upward trend. | 3-year trending: Activation, Resilience, Decompression - Reported Satisfaction Score between 2022 and 2024 & Item-level change vs 2023 benchmark; Activation: Work makes a difference - +.03, Work is meaningful - +.03, Care for all patients equally - +.02, See patient as an indvidual person - .01 / Decompression: Able to free mind when away from work - +.08, Rarely lose slepp over work - +.07, Disconnect from comm's during free time - +.06, Enjoy personal time without focus on work - .05 " width="1120" height="609"></div><p><em><small><strong>Source:</strong> ©2025 Press Ganey. All rights reserved; a PG Forsta company.</small></em></p><p>Hospitals that score higher on team member engagement surveys also see higher patient experience scores reported from patients. This correlation gets more pronounced every year, with the top performing quartile of hospitals on staff engagement in 2023 scoring in the 80th percentile on patients’ likelihood to recommend.</p><div class="col-md-12"><img src="/sites/default/files/2025-03/PSW-Workforce-Experience-img2-1120x485.jpg" alt="Likelihood to recommend is correlated with team engagement and correlation is getting stronger: Inpatient Likelihood to Recommend (percentile rank); 2021 for Engagement Quartile, Engagement Quartile" width="1120" height="485"></div><p><em><small><strong>Source:</strong> ©2025 Press Ganey. All rights reserved; a PG Forsta company.</small></em></p></div><div class="col-md-12"><h2>Safety Culture is Essential</h2><p>A critical factor in generating both better patient outcomes and care teams’ engagement in their work is a strong safety culture. A strong safety culture supports the teams through the demanding tasks associated with care delivery and makes a noticeable difference in how patients experience their care, leading to safer care and a more resilient care delivery system.</p><p>A culture of safety is an environment in which everyone, including patients and families:</p><ul class="arrow"><li class="arrow">Can speak up when they see something that might not be right.</li><li class="arrow">Is confident that improvements occur when issues are reported.</li><li class="arrow">Is dealt with fairly and compassionately when an error occurs.</li><li class="arrow">Experiences effective teamwork and communication.</li></ul><p>An organization’s safety culture is assessed with evidence-based survey tools, such as the instrument Press Ganey developed, which gather responses from over 1 million hospital staff each year. The Press Ganey data show a positive relationship between the level of care team engagement in their work and the hospital scores for patient safety culture. When caregivers feel that they are supported, working with an effective team and doing meaningful work, they are more likely to be deeply engaged in their work.</p><div class="col-md-12"><img src="/sites/default/files/2025-03/PSW-Safety-Culture-img1-1120x322.jpg" alt="Engagement top performers have a strong Culture of Safety: All employees - Engagement 3.99 = path 51.5% with a high Saftey Vulture Score - 4.51 (97th), path 48.5% with a low Saftey Culture Score - 3.44 (2nd) | 95 percentile-rank difference in employee engagement" width="1120" height="322"></div><p><em><small><strong>Source:</strong> ©2025 Press Ganey. All rights reserved; a PG Forsta company.</small></em></p></div><div class="col-md-12"><h2>Opportunities to Enhance Safety Culture</h2><p>In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals’ performance in both safety culture and quality and safety metrics have rebounded and begun to plateau. Resources and teamwork remain areas with the greatest potential for growth. While prevention and reporting experienced an increase previously, the recent downward trend highlights the need for ongoing prioritization.</p><div class="col-md-12"><img src="/sites/default/files/2025-03/PSW-Opportunities-to-Enhance-img1-1120x479.jpg" alt="National Safety Culture Scores on the rebound; Saftey Culture Overall: Mean Score between 2019 and 2024 - average 4, Prevention & Reporting - average 4.14, Pride & Reputaion - average 4.15, Resources & Teamwork - average 3.7" width="1120" height="479"></div><p><em><small><strong>Source:</strong> ©2025 Press Ganey. All rights reserved; a PG Forsta company.</small></em></p><p>Press Ganey’s data establish how closely all of these outcomes — patient safety outcomes, patient experience, workforce engagement experience and resilience — are tied together by a hospital or health system’s culture of safety.</p></div><div class="col-md-12"><h2>A Continuous Journey to Improve</h2><p>Improvement is a continuous pursuit, and hospitals have been and will remain deeply committed to advancing the safety and quality of their care, the way in which patients experience care, and the wellbeing of their care teams. By improving the patient and workforce experience, identifying and addressing risks to patient or staff wellbeing, improving communications and understanding of what patients and their families value in their care experience, and implementing innovative strategies, hospitals will continue to demonstrate their commitment to patient safety.</p><p>One of the key goals of the <a href="/aha-patient-safety-initiative" title="Learn more about the AHA Patient Safety Initiative">���������� Association’s Patient Safety Initiative</a> is to help hospitals and health systems improve the culture of safety. Launched in 2023, AHA’s Patient Safety Initiative catalyzes hospitals’ and health systems’ collective expertise and momentum for improvement and focuses on 1) safety culture, 2) identifying and addressing disparities in health care outcomes, and 3) the wellbeing of the workforce.</p><p>Through the work of the Patient Safety Initiative, hospitals and health systems are using safety improvement strategies that have a history of success, as well as trying new and innovative approaches to further enhance their work.</p><p>To help leaders and boards learn from their counterparts in other hospitals and health systems, AHA has produced the Leading for Safety video series hosted by former Chair of the AHA Board of Trustees Mindy Estes, M.D., and featuring leaders from hospitals and health systems that have been recipients of AHA’s Quest for Quality award. The AHA’s Safety Speaks podcast series also features many quality and safety leaders talking about their innovative approaches to safety.</p></div></div></div> Tue, 11 Mar 2025 09:28:08 -0500 Patient Safety Initiative /stories/2025-03-07-university-hospitals-cleveland-ohio-university-hospitals-excels-personalized-innovative-patient-care <div class="container"><div class="row"><div class="col-md-8"><h2>University Hospitals Excels at Personalized, Innovative Patient Care</h2><p><img src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/University-Hospitals-Cleveland-Ohio-logo.jpg" data-entity-uuid="899ea9cf-8109-40d6-bb47-0b48250a7053" data-entity-type="file" alt="University Hospitals logo." width="227" height="108" class="align-left">University Hospitals serves the needs of approximately a million patients annually through an integrated network of 21 hospitals, more than 50 health centers and outpatient facilities, and over 200 physician offices across 16 counties throughout northeast Ohio.</p><p>Founded in 1866, UH is a renowned academic medical center and community hospital network, reaching patients and communities to deliver personalized, compassionate care, medical discovery, and breakthroughs. The system’s 32,000 employees are guided by the core values of Service Excellence, Integrity, Compassion, Belonging, and Trust. UH sets the highest standards for quality and patient safety and has received prestigious awards and recognition for upholding a high-quality, personalized patient care experience that integrates the latest medical and research innovations.</p><img src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/University-Hospitals-Cleveland-Ohio-staff.jpg" data-entity-uuid="d06c7bad-175e-4edb-b02b-a6b462df1b60" data-entity-type="file" alt="University Hospitals staff gathered in a hospital conference room." width="100%" height="100%"><h2>A Transformational Framework</h2><p><strong>UH has embraced a culture rooted in love to foster a safe and healthy care environment.</strong> At UH, creating a culture based on love has enabled them to innovate faster and transform their health care system through joy. Their transformation is organized in three key steps:</p><ul class="arrow"><li class="arrow"><span><strong>Believe:</strong></span> UH asks employees—from doctors and nurses to housekeepers and janitorial staff––to create “I will” statements to set intentions and foster a culture of improvement and empowerment.</li><li class="arrow"><span><strong>Belong:</strong></span> UH supports employees in speaking up about safety concerns, raising ideas for improvement, and establishing relationships across the system to learn from each other.</li><li class="arrow"><span><strong>Build:</strong></span> UH has a shared accountability system so that employees at all levels are responsible for the system’s success.</li></ul><p>UH holds weekly meetings to highlight “illuminators” within the system to elevate their successes and help each other improve. During that time, UH also celebrates and rewards “micro-moments of love” and acts of compassion through its <strong>Illuminator Award</strong> to recognize people who connect, uplift, and improve by sharing positive comments weekly to all units.</p><p>Participants in these meetings represent all fields in the system – from executive leaders and finance professionals to pharmacists and frontline staff. At these meetings, employees can stand up and recognize their colleagues for an Illuminator’s Award. This program enables UH employees to celebrate each other by focusing on their safety and quality successes.</p><h2>Workforce Engagement to Improve Patient Safety</h2><p>To make UH’s transformation framework a reality, the organization has used multiple approaches to enable its workforce to illuminate the path to better outcomes:</p><ul class="arrow"><li class="arrow"><span><strong>Greater autonomy.</strong></span> UH has found that giving their physicians and employees more autonomy in setting their schedules and managing their workload has led to better patient outcomes. With increased autonomy, UH’s patient experience scores have dramatically improved. UH shares these scores with its units each week so employees can see their quality and safety efforts are working.</li><li class="arrow"><span><strong>Worker safety:</strong></span> UH has prioritized worker safety and supports programs to better insulate staff from harm, including the implementation of a Behavioral Emergency Response Team. UH offers staff-wide de-escalation trainings, clearly established behavioral boundaries, and an interdisciplinary interlevel team devoted to crafting workplace violence solutions.</li><li class="arrow"><span><strong>Employee empowerment</strong></span><strong>:</strong> UH enables employees to lead problem solving to achieve positive results for patients. Each ICU unit has been empowered to create a unique system to prevent infection among their patients, which has led to 14 CAUTI-free units for a year (catheter-associated urinary tract infections). Other infection areas have also greatly decreased by encouraging departments to develop their own improvement processes, including implementing peer-accountability systems.</li></ul><blockquote><p>“Every employee is an illuminator, even if they may not see it in themselves.”</p><p><span><strong>Dr. Peter Pronovost</strong></span></p></blockquote><h2>A System-Wide Culture of Patient Safety</h2><p>At UH, patient safety is viewed as everyone’s responsibility. It is a culture in which everyone has a duty to report their concerns—and is appreciated for doing so. UH’s policies promote a culture of prevention, not punishment. To establish a non-punitive, blame-free system at UH, incident reporting practices allow reports to be entered anonymously. The reporting philosophy also acknowledges that everyone is responsible and accountable to their patients, the public, and other staff to make UH a safe, healthy environment. They also created a system for reporting compassion gaps to help employees manage burnout and ensure they are practicing self-care.</p><p>UH ensures patients can participate fully in a culture of patient safety. University Hospitals is a firm supporter of the Speak Up Campaign, a national patient safety campaign that urges patients to help prevent errors by becoming active, involved, and informed participants in their own health care. To support this program, UH developed a training video titled Pause Please to encourage anyone with a concern to “call a pause,” which is honored by staff to immediately address patient concerns. The program encourages patients to pay attention to the care they receive and further educate themselves about their condition.</p><p>UH strives to ensure its workforce supports the mission and understands how they contribute to it. By engaging and empowering all levels of staff and leadership, UH’s workforce has successfully improved patient outcomes and made measurable performance improvements.</p><h2>A Scalable Model for Success</h2><p>UH has created its model for transformation to be replicable and adaptable by hospitals and health systems across the country, offering other care providers a roadmap to help navigate how to embrace safety and improvement that is rooted in the most basic human emotion – love.</p></div><div class="col-md-4"><a href="/system/files/media/file/2025/03/Patient-Safety-Member-Story-University-Hospitals-Cleveland-Ohio.pdf" target="_blank" title="Click here to download the Patient Safety Member Story: University Hospitals | Cleveland, Ohio PDF."><img src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/Page-1-Patient-Safety-Member-Story-University-Hospitals-Cleveland-Ohio-20250307.png" data-entity-uuid="163965db-f80d-483b-bddb-620347af7b64" data-entity-type="file" alt="Patient Safety Member Story: University Hospitals | Cleveland, Ohio page 1." width="695" height="900"></a></div></div></div> ol.blue { counter-reset: item; } ol.blue li.blue { display: block; } ol.blue li.blue:before { content: counter(item) ". "; counter-increment: item; color: #307fe2; font-weight: bold; } h2 { color:#003087; } ul.arrow { list-style: none; margin-left: 20px; padding-left: 0; } li.arrow { padding-left: 1em; text-indent: 1em; } li.arrow:before { content: "➤"; color: #003087; padding-right: 10px; margin-left: -42px; } Fri, 07 Mar 2025 10:23:45 -0600 Patient Safety Initiative /stories/2025-03-03-mainegeneral-augusta-maine <div class="container"><div class="row"><div class="col-md-8"><h2>MaineGeneral Knows Safety Is a Key Element of High-Quality Health Care</h2><p>MaineGeneral is a non-profit hospital system serving the Pine Tree State’s Kennebec Valley region. The system cares for patients from 88 cities and towns, offering a wide range of services throughout central Maine, including 24/7 emergency services, outpatient cancer care, long-term care, specialized rehabilitation, and community outreach programs.</p><p><img src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/MaineGeneral-Health-logo.png" data-entity-uuid="94f7f3bb-9997-4ecf-b072-4c8f071f366c" data-entity-type="file" alt="MaineGeneral Health logo." width="478" height="105" class="align-left">Adhering to a philosophy that safety is a key element of high-quality health care, MaineGeneral has developed and implemented several programs dedicated to cultivating safe care environments. MaineGeneral’s innovative and effective programs that focus on patient satisfaction and infection prevention have helped make the system’s services some of the safest in the state, receiving accolades from patients and others.</p><img src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/Patient-Safety-Members-Story-MaineGeneral%20-Augusta-Maine-1.jpg" data-entity-uuid="2a65ba31-d39f-4853-9714-f916bd42c3cc" data-entity-type="file" alt="MaineGeneral staff standing on a staircase in a hospital." width="100%" height="100%" class="align-center"><h2>Patient Experience Reports</h2><p>MaineGeneral has implemented a system-wide initiative to collect and publish patient reviews, known as Patient Experience Reports. These reports consist of aggregated survey responses submitted by MaineGeneral patients in response to a set of questions. The standardized survey asks respondents to rate, on a scale of 1 to 10, the extent to which they agree with certain statements. Question topics include provider knowledge of the patient and their needs, ease of accessing information, and medication discussions between patients and providers. Many of these questions relate to patient safety and enable MaineGeneral to capture the unique insights of patients on their work to make care safer.</p><p>MaineGeneral aggregates the responses to these questions and makes them publicly available on its website. A Patient Experience Report graphically illustrates the percentage of respondents who answered 9 or 10 (the highest scores) to each question and is available for every primary and specialty care practice within the MaineGeneral system. This detailed, transparent approach to quality reporting underlies an across-the-board commitment to providing safe and high-quality care to all patients.</p><p>For example, key takeaways from their <a href="https://www.mainegeneral.org/app/files/public/2458a06e-a750-4634-a62d-8174f5bebfe1/patient-experience-mainegeneral-primary-care-practices-103124.pdf" target="_blank" title="MaineGeneral: Patient Experience—MaineGeneral Primary Care Practices">Patient Experience Report from Primary Care Practices</a> include:</p><ul><li>An average of <strong>93.6%</strong> of respondents said providers listened to them carefully.</li><li>An average of <strong>94.1%</strong> said their provider explained things well.</li><li>An average of <strong>92.2%</strong> of respondents said providers involved them in decisions about their care plans and health goals.</li></ul><p>With an average of over 80% of survey takers rating 8 out of 10 questions a 9 or 10, MaineGeneral maintains exceptionally high patient satisfaction with their hospital practices. Thanks to MaineGeneral’s transparent approach to collecting and publishing patient satisfaction data, prospective patients can be confident that they will receive safe, high-quality care throughout MaineGeneral’s locations and services.</p><h2>Commitment to Safety</h2><p>MaineGeneral supports a variety of other programs to support, improve, and maintain a high level of patient safety across the system. Some of these innovative programs include:</p><div class="row"><div class="col-md-6"><ul><li><strong>Infection Prevention:</strong> MaineGeneral is committed to going above and beyond to prevent infection across its system. In addition to following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines for identifying and reporting infections, MaineGeneral has voluntarily implemented additional infection control practices.</li><li><strong>Partnering with our Patients Hand Hygiene Campaign:</strong> MaineGeneral is pioneering a collaboration between patients and providers to ensure hospital safety. In conjunction with the University of Pennsylvania and Steris, the Partnering with our Patients Hand Hygiene Campaign seeks to get patients actively involved in the hospital safety process by encouraging them to ask their providers if they’ve washed their hands – one of the simplest but most effective ways to prevent the spread of germs.</li><li><strong>National Recognition:</strong> MaineGeneral’s patient safety efforts have resulted in several awards, including a 5-star rating from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.</li></ul></div><div class="col-md-6"><p><img src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/Patient-Safety-Members-Story-MaineGeneral%20-Augusta-Maine-2.jpg" data-entity-uuid="13ea25fa-b002-4c52-aa6a-9c236465f83d" data-entity-type="file" alt="MaineGeneral staff standing in a hospital hallway." width="540" height="318" class="align-center"></p><p><img src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/Patient-Safety-Members-Story-MaineGeneral%20-Augusta-Maine-3.jpg" data-entity-uuid="601845aa-22bf-47f9-816d-e4a8b01ac4bc" data-entity-type="file" alt="MaineGeneral staff seated and standing in a hospital conference room." width="540" height="290" class="align-center"></p><p><img src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/Patient-Safety-Members-Story-MaineGeneral%20-Augusta-Maine-4.jpg" data-entity-uuid="281da906-ed7c-454b-88f6-6c86dcec3650" data-entity-type="file" alt="Two MaineGeneral staff members hold a banner that reads, "MaineGeneral Health. We're with you."" width="540" height="304" class="align-center"></p></div></div></div><div class="col-md-4"><a href="/system/files/media/file/2025/03/Patient-Safety-Members-Story-MaineGeneral%20-Augusta-Maine.pdf" target="_blank" title="Click here to download the Patient Safety Member Story: MaineGeneral | Augusta, Maine PDF."><img src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/Page-1-Patient-Safety-Members-Story-MaineGeneral%20-Augusta-Maine.png" data-entity-uuid="44828e79-7f93-446f-99b6-7c1863bb72d7" data-entity-type="file" alt="Patient Safety Member Story: MaineGeneral | Augusta, Maine page 1." width="1700" height="2200" class="align-center"></a></div></div></div> ol.blue { counter-reset: item; } ol.blue li.blue { display: block; } ol.blue li.blue:before { content: counter(item) ". "; counter-increment: item; color: #307fe2; font-weight: bold; } h2 { color:#003087; } Mon, 03 Mar 2025 09:59:13 -0600 Patient Safety Initiative /news/headline/2024-09-26-new-aha-videos-share-strategies-enhancing-patient-safety <p>The AHA Sept. 26 launched a new video <a href="/leading-safety-aha-quest-quality-series" target="_blank">series</a> in which former AHA Board Chair Mindy Estes, M.D., has conversations with hospital and health system leaders about strategies that executives and boards are taking to advance patient safety and quality. The first two videos in the series feature discussions with Greg Bentz, chairman of BJC Healthcare, and Jack Lynch, president and CEO of Main Line Health. New videos in the series, which is part of AHA's <a href="/aha-patient-safety-initiative" target="_blank">Patient Safety Initiative</a>, will feature leaders from organizations that have been recipients of AHA’s <a href="/about/awards/quest-for-quality" target="_blank">Quest for Quality Prize</a>. <br> </p> Thu, 26 Sep 2024 14:08:42 -0500 Patient Safety Initiative /leading-safety-aha-quest-quality-series <p>The <a href="/aha-patient-safety-initiative" title="AHA Patient Safety Initiative (PSI)">AHA Patient Safety Initiative</a> proudly presents Leading for Safety, a <a href="#Q4QVideoSeries" title="Jump to the videos">virtual series</a> hosted by <strong>former Saint Luke's Health System CEO and former AHA Board Chair, Mindy Estes, M.D.</strong> Featuring insights from past AHA Quest for Quality honorees, this series explores how health care leaders can drive safer, higher-quality care by fostering a culture of safety and innovation. Combining the prestigious Quest for Quality Prize with the AHA’s Patient Safety Initiative, Leading for Safety provides practical strategies for executive leadership in advancing patient safety.</p><div class="row"><div class="col-md-6 col-md-offset-3"><a href="/about/awards/quest-for-quality" title="Link to Quest for Quality page"><img src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/Q4Q_nohpoe.jpg" alt="Quest for Quality logo" width="100%" height="100%"></a></div></div> @media (min-width:991px) { .field_reusable_cta{ width: 25%; left: 15px; float:left } .container.edp-container .body { width: 75%; padding-right: 15px; float:left } } @media (min-width:771px) and (max-width:990px){ .field_reusable_cta{ width: 40%; left: 15px; float:left } .container.edp-container .body { width: 60%; padding-right: 15px; float:left } } @media (max-width:770px){ .field_reusable_cta{ width: 100%; margin:auto; font-size:12px; } .field_cta_body{ width:75%; display:block; margin:auto; } .panel.module-typeC{ margin-bottom:0px } .container.edp-container .body { width: 100%; margin-bottom:25px } } Thu, 26 Sep 2024 08:00:00 -0500 Patient Safety Initiative /news/perspective/2024-09-13-hospitals-improve-patient-safety-we-advance-health-america <p>America’s hospitals and health systems have always aimed to provide the highest quality and safe care to patients, while helping every individual achieve their maximum potential for health.</p><p>An AHA <a href="/guidesreports/2024-09-12-new-analysis-shows-hospitals-performance-key-patient-safety-measures-surpassing-pre-pandemic-levels" target="_blank" title="AHA report on key patient safety measures.">report</a> released this week on key patient safety measures shows hospitals continue to make progress on these important objectives as they care for patients and communities.</p><p>The report, which used data analyzed by Vizient, found that hospital and health system performance on key patient safety and quality measures was better in the first quarter of 2024 than it was before the COVID-19 pandemic. It also found that hospitals made these improvements while caring for patients with more significant health care needs.</p><p><strong>Hospitals’ efforts to improve safety led to 200,000 Americans hospitalized between April 2023 and March 2024 surviving episodes of care they wouldn’t have in 2019, the report projects.</strong></p><p>Some other key findings of the report include:</p><ul><li>Hospitals’ central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) and catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI)  in the first quarter of 2024 were at rates lower than those recorded in 2019. The analysis suggests improvements in infection prevention measures as hospitals continue to optimize their practices and respond to evolving patient needs.</li><li>Multiple key preventive health screenings have rapidly rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, and ongoing improvement has led to a 60% to 80% increase in breast, colon and cervical cancer screenings compared to 2019. Increasing efforts to promote and facilitate screenings has further boosted participation rates, emphasizing the importance of early detection and its role in improving cancer care and outcomes.</li></ul><p>These improvements underscore the resilience and unwavering commitment of hospitals and health systems — and the millions of hospital team members across the country — to delivering better care and outcomes to the patients and communities they serve.</p><p>While hospitals are proud of these efforts, we know there is more work to do. AHA’s <a href="/aha-patient-safety-initiative" target="_blank" title="AHA's Patient Safety Initiative web site.">Patient Safety Initiative</a>, which was launched in 2023, will continue to reinforce and accelerate patient safety efforts.</p><p>More than 1,700 organizations from across the country are participating in the initiative, which focuses on fostering a culture of safety from the boardroom to the bedside, identifying and addressing inequities in safety, and enhancing workforce safety. The initiative provides hospitals with tools and data to advance patient safety, offers a platform for sharing their stories of improvement with peers, and highlights examples of applicable innovation that support, spread and sustain safety improvement.</p><p>We see examples every day of hospitals and health systems implementing and leading efforts to enhance the quality of care for patients. Every hospital is tailoring these efforts and strategies so that they can best care for and meet the needs of the patients and communities they serve. You can find some of these inspiring stories on AHA’s <a href="/about/awards/quest-for-quality" target="_blank" title="AHA Quest for Quality webpage.">Quest for Quality webpage</a> and <a href="/tellingthehospitalstory/stories" target="_blank" title="Telling the Hospital Story webpage">Telling the Hospital Story</a> webpage.</p><p><strong>Hospitals and health systems never stop working to advance patient safety and quality. It has been </strong>— <strong>and will always be </strong>— <strong>our field’s top priority.</strong></p> Fri, 13 Sep 2024 14:54:11 -0500 Patient Safety Initiative