Institute for Healthcare Improvement: Patient Safety Officer Executive Development Program

"Patient Safety." It’s a phrase that was rarely heard 10 years ago. Now, ensuring patient safety is one of the most vital — and challenging — jobs in health care.

To meet this challenge, and to comply with standards established by JCAHO and other agencies, hospitals identify a Patient Safety Officer to oversee the organization’s strategy for keeping patients safe.

While these individuals usually have extensive clinical, quality or risk management experience, they are often underprepared to effectively meet the daunting challenges of their new role and do not have ready access to the knowledge or tools needed to make the patient safety position robust and successful.

Patient Safety Officer Improvement Story

IHI’s eight-day Patient Safety Officer Executive Development Program will cover topics critical to successful patient safety programs, including:

Reliability Science: Using proven principles that pick up where vigilance leaves off
Human Factors: Creating systems that compensate for the limits of human ability
Accountability: Moving away from blame and shame
Rules and Regulations: A guide to ensuring compliance with private, state, and federal standards

Read how the Patient Safety Officer Executive Development Program has influenced its first round of graduates. This article appeared in the January issue of our Continuous Improvement Newsletter. Click here to read the article.