BALTIMORE, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- A safe hospital, one where nurses are not afraid to raise concerns with doctors, is achievable and would not cost "tons of money," a U.S. safety expert says.
Dr. Peter Pronovost of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore says a hospital with "a culture of safety" solves problems by looking at what is right for the patient.
A culture of safety is possible, says Pronovost, the study leader, if staff believe hospital leaders are committed to making healthcare safe.
"It doesn't take decades or tons of money to get from a culture that says 'mistakes are inevitable' to a belief that harm is entirely preventable," Pronovost says in a statement. "What it takes is leadership."
The study, published online in the journal Quality and Safety in Health Care, describes a comprehensive, unit-based safety program implemented at the 1,000-bed Johns Hopkins Hospital. Unit staff were taught to identify, measure and report problems, implement corrections and measure again.
The program employed an electronic event-reporting system and monthly executive/unit meetings.
In its first year, 55 percent of the units achieved the safety changes and after two years, 83 percent did.
"If we can do it in our organization, it's much easier to do in smaller institutions," Pronovost says. "In this case, size is a limitation."
