Measuring Patient Safety in the Emergency Department. (March 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Pham, Julius Cuong; Alblaihed, Leen; Cheung, Dickson Sui; Levy, Frederick; Hill, Peter Michael; Kelen, Gabor D.; Pronovost, Peter J.; Kirsch, Thomas D.
• Is Part Of: American journal of medical quality. Volume 29:Number 2(2014:Mar./Apr.)
• Page Start: 99
• Page End: 104
• Publication Date: 2014-03
• Subjects: safety -- emergency medicine -- safety management -- quality of health care -- measurement; Medical care -- Quality control -- Periodicals; Medical care -- Evaluation -- Periodicals; Medical care -- Utilization review -- Periodicals; Medical care -- United States -- Periodicals; 362.1
• DOI: 10.1177/1062860613489846
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1062-8606

Abstract

As a safety net for the health care system, quality and safety performance in emergency medicine (EM) is important for policy makers, insurers, researchers, health care providers, and patients. Developing performance indicators that are relevant, valid, feasible, and easy to measure has proven difficult. To monitor progress, patient safety should be measured objectively. Although conceptual frameworks and error taxonomies have been proposed, a practical scorecard for measuring patient safety over time in EM has been lacking. This article proposes a framework that measures safety through 4 major domains: (1) how often patients are harmed, (2) how often appropriate interventions are delivered, (3) how well errors in the system are identified and corrected, and (4) emergency department (ED) safety culture. Examples of specific measures for each of these domains are provided, but the EM community should reach consensus on what measures are important for the ED environment and patients.