Is there a list of “Always Events” organizations should follow?

Barbara Balik, RN; IHI Senior Faculty, Common Fire Healthcare Consulting

The history of “Always Events” is really new, and so I put it in the emerging category, so there’s not a list of “Always Events.” Eventually, IHI and colleagues may learn that really, there’s a short list that we all want to fulfill always, but right now we don’t know enough. It would be probably premature to jump into that, so right now we find that people are testing and learning from that. So the idea that we listen to patients, and as we listen to patients in different settings, different backgrounds, different ethnicities, we’ll learn together and we’ll move forward. I think the most common one we’ve heard so far is the ones that speak to, “You listen to me and you’ve heard me.” “I always know what’s going to happen next.” “I know what I’m supposed to do.” Some that have come from patients with very complicated health care conditions is, “I know who my team members are.” Just knowing who I can turn to when I need help for certain things. That list is emerging.