Academic Integrity: tutoring, explanations, and feedback — we don’t complete graded work or submit on a student’s behalf.

1. The IOM Reports In 2000 the Institute of Medicine (IOM) published To Err Is H

ID: 121941 • Letter: 1

Question

1. The IOM Reports In 2000 the Institute of Medicine (IOM) published To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System, and in 2001 a follow-up report, Crossing the Quality Chasm. The resulting efforts to reduce medical mistakes have dramatically changed the face of healthcare in the United States. Understanding the content of these reports is foundational to effective leadership in healthcare. With that in mind, respond to the following: • Briefly explain the key focus of To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System and Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century. What were the objectives of each? How did the reports differ? (2–3 paragraphs) • Explain the impact of each of these reports. What changes have occurred that can directly be tied to their dissemination? Access some of the recent State of Health Care Quality Reports to explore improvements in quality. (2–3 paragraphs) • Identify IOM’s six aims for improving healthcare quality, and describe subsequent advances made in delivering quality healthcare related to IOM’s six aims. (2–3 paragraphs)

Explanation / Answer

The key focus are as follows :

a. National Center for Patient Safety : To ensure basic safety, establishment of safety goals, tracking progress, investigating research to prevent mistakes, National Center would provide effective practices to ensure people with better safety measures.

b. Mandatory and Voluntary reporting systems : Mandatoty reporting by public would protect the confidentiality of certain information and make health care organizations to realize problems before occurence of major harm.

c. Role of Consumers, Professionals and Accreditation group : pressure from both public and private purchasers would create a fundamental change in health care system.

d. Building a culture of society : Role of executives and clinicians would be pivotal in building patient safety. Much stress is given to medication safety since it has taken a major cause that has been reported.

The reports of IOM committe included right time diagnosis, employ indicated tests, proper administration of the treatment, exact and proper knowledge of performing opertions or tests, avoid delay in treatment to abnormal tests, adequate monitoring or follow-up of treatment, and to provide appropriate prophylactic treatment.

One of the recent state of Health Care Quality Reports include reduction of medical errors. The know-how that exists prevented many of the mistakes. The establishment of National focus to create leadership, research, protocol enhances the knowledge about safety. It is the duty of the health care organization to participate in the voluntary reporting system which would provide learning from errors. The process of adopting standards helps to form expectations which would further provide safety among providers and consumers. Patients are involved wherein they are having knowledge about the medication they are taking in, their side effects.

The IOM's aims for improving healthcare quality are as follows :

User-centered design- Things are visible so that users have whole concept of the process and can determine any actions at any moment of time.

Avoid Reliance on memory - standardization of equipments and process enhances safety. For instance, protocols for anticoagulants, perioperative antibiotics have been accepted.

Attend to work safety - work hours, work loads, stafing ratios, shift changes affect patient safety.

Train concepts for Teams - The interdisciplinary team training has to be performed in delivering patient safety.

Involve patient in the care- At the time of discharge, patients has to be well aware of the treatment to be carried on, such as list of medications, doses, precaution, side effects and they should also be informed about the follow-up visits to monitor their progress.

Design for recovery - Even if errors occur, there should be a backup plan, a recovery system must exist to reverse operations.