In the new value-driven health care system, organizations delivering safe, high-quality and efficient care are best positioned to succeed. We have an AHRQ-listed Patient Safety Organization dedicated to accelerating improvements in patient safety outcomes.

Benefits:

  • Annual individualized evidence-based practice reports
  • Peer collaboration and communication
  • Aggregation and analysis of safety event report data
  • Support for meeting Affordable Care Act requirements
  • Privilege and confidentiality protections for patient safety work product

Most of the time, health care in the U.S. is delivered safely and without harm to the patient. However, medicine is a complex field, and humans sometimes make mistakes. Patient safety is the field of expertise that hospitals and other health care organizations use to protect their patients from harm, such as errors, injuries, accidents and infections. Strong health care teams stay current with accreditation standards, reduce infection rates, put checks in place to prevent mistakes and ensure strong lines of communication between hospital staff, patients and families. Check out the areas below to learn more about how Vizient® is partnering with our members to prevent patient harm.

Sources:
Graber ML. The incidence of diganostic error in medicine. BMJ Qual Saf. 2013;22(suppl 2):ii21-ii27. doi:10.1136/bmjqs-2012-001615.
McDowell SE, Mt-Isa S, Ashby D, Ferner RE. Where errors occur in the preparation and administration of intravenous medicines: a systematic review and Bayesian analysis. Qual Saf Health Care. 2010;19(4):341-345. doi:10.1136/qshc.2008.029785.
James JT. A new, evidence-based estimate of patient harms associated with hospital care. J Patient Saf. 2013;9(3):122-128. doi:10.1097/PTS.0b013e3182948a69.
Study suggests medical errors now third leading cause of death in the US [press release]. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Medicine; May 3, 2016. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/study_ suggests_medical_errors_now_third_leading_cause_of_death_in_the_us. Accessed March 6, 2019.

Patient Safety Week Infographic medium
Patient Safety Week - IV bag
0.73

The overall probability of making at least one error in intravenous therapy

Patient Safety Week - Data
200-400k

Number of people who die annually from medical errors

Patient Safety Week - X-ray
10-20%

Percent of autopsy studies that uncovered major diagnostic discrepancies

Patient Safety Week - Danger
No. 3

Medical errors are the No. 3 cause of death in the United States

The Vizient Patient Safety Organization (PSO) offers a compelling suite of safety-related tools and insights with leading-practice guidance for patient safety evaluation system documentation, patient safety work product identification and privilege and confidentiality protections and responsibilities. The program features:

  • Submission to the Network of Patient Safety Databases
  • Custom PSO applications and solutions
  • Patient safety insights and leading practices
  • The Vizient PSO semi-annual meeting and quarterly PSO user-group meetings
  • Quarterly collaborative Safe Table meetings
  • Actionable tool kits and evidence-based solutions
  • Patient topical webinars
  • PSO officer education focused on high reliability practices

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Vizient members have exclusive access to additional patient safety resources and information.

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