Patient Safety Action Group Promotes Proactive Safety Culture

Abstract

Patient falls in hospitals are dangerous and difficult to avoid. Two years ago, Hartford Hospital in Connecticut made it a goal to reduce its patient fall rate, and created a multidisciplinary patient safety action group to tackle this and other complicated safety problems head-on. Its biomedical engineering department was a key part of this team, and brought its equipment and engineering expertise to bear on these challenges. By maintaining a daily focus on proactively identifying and resolving problems, the group has dramatically reduced the hospital’s fall rate and, in the process, created a proactive safety culture throughout the hospital.