This Patient Safety Week, Become a Hero

Dear Colleagues,

You've heard me say it before, and I'll say it again. Patient safety is everyone's responsibility.

No matter what setting you work in—an inpatient care center, an outpatient clinic, a community practice or a patient's home—you have an important role to play in our patients' experiences. But we don't always realize how important we are to keeping patients safe.

It's partly because we work in a complex system. You depend on many people, just as many people depend on you. And the work you do touches patients' lives—directly and indirectly.

That's why I encourage you to join me in becoming a patient safety hero during National Patient Safety Awareness Week, from March 13 to 19.

The Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality recently released a new Web-based training program for all Johns Hopkins Medicine faculty and staff members. The learning series, Becoming a Patient Safety Hero, aims to help clinical and nonclinical staff members identify safety risks, such as handoff failures, medication errors and changes to cleaning product, which can result in preventable harm and even death to a patient. The program shares techniques used by other high-risk industries, such as aviation and nuclear power, which can be applied to health care systems to create a safer environment for workers, patients and their families.

All employees can access the training program. Just go to the myLearning portal and search for "Becoming a Patient Safety Hero" in the course catalog. The course is interactive and can be completed in 30 minutes.

While the course isn't mandatory, I am asking for your help to reach 100 percent participation from our faculty and staff members.

Employees who take all five modules in the course and complete the final survey by Saturday, March 19, will be entered into a raffle. One employee from each entity will be selected at random to receive a $25 gift card.

Delivering patient- and family-centered care is a key aim of the Johns Hopkins Medicine Strategic Plan. Giving all employees access to information on how to provide respectful, safe care will help the organization achieve its goal to reduce preventable harm and optimize patient outcomes and experience while reducing health care costs.

Please take the course and encourage others to do the same. Attached is a flyer promoting the new training program. Please forward it to any colleagues who may be interested.

Sincerely,

Peter J. Pronovost, M.D., Ph.D.
Director, Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality
Senior Vice President, Patient Safety and Quality
Johns Hopkins Medicine