Patient Safety: A Historical Perspective
Patient safety has always been an important issue in healthcare. In recent years, hospitals nationwide have stepped up their focus on safety practices, following a 1999 report from the Institute of Medicine that raised awareness about medical errors in hospitals across the U.S. According to the report, many people each year either die or suffer because of preventable errors made in hospitals.

The Institute of Medicine report pushed the healthcare safety issue to the foreground for the entire hospital industry. Organizations such as The Joint Commission, the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and the Leapfrog Group provide best safety practice recommendations and tools for measuring compliance.

NCH is not allowed to display the national comparative data as it is a product of the American Nurses Association's National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators.

How To Read This Report:
An explanation of the scores and how the cell coloring relates to them.

Key

Better Than U.S. Average

At or Near U.S. Average

Worse Than U.S. Average

No National Average or Too Few Cases

Measures

Patient Safety Measure - This is what is actually being measured. You can click on each Patient Safety measure for a longer definition about what this measure means.

Desired Performance - This gives you an idea of whether it's best to have a high score or a low score.