Patient Safety Awareness Week (PSAW) kicks off here in the United States on March 13th. In the words of our Founder, Joe Kiani, “you can’t just hope for ZERO, you must plan for ZERO” so this PSAW we want to encourage action from our network.
You’ll find below ways that you, individually and as representatives of organizations in the patient safety community, can take action to advance patient safety awareness this week.
1. New Infographic: How COVID-19 Has Impacted Patient Safety
We’re proud to announce the release of an infographic showing the 10 top issues that have impacted patient safety during the COVID-19 pandemic. Please share this infographic and use it as a way to tell people why patient safety is more important today than ever before. You’ll see smaller snippets of the infographic on social media that you can share with your friends, family and colleagues.
2. Sign on to Support for the Patient Safety Moonshot
We want to show our elected officials that members of the public and health workers alike care about patient safety. For more information about the moonshot, click here.
3. Write to HHS Asking for Patient Safety to be Reprioritized
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has published their draft FY 2022-2026 strategic plan and to our surprise, there is NO mention of patient safety in the entire plan. The Agency for Health Research and Quality reports to HHS and has a plan on patient safety; we are concerned that if HHS isn’t prioritizing this that patients will continue to be harmed and health workers will not be supported. We believe this is a misstep and we will be sending our own letter to HHS today asking for them to reprioritize patient safety.
4. Organizations that work to Advance Patient Safety Can Commit to ZERO
If you work for an organization that works to advance patient safety, get your leadership to Commit to ZERO! If you are a member of a healthcare system please ask them to commit to zero and institute the evidence-based best practices published on our website under APSS as a proven method of reducing preventable death and preventable harm to our patients.
