Safety Matters Initiative Launches

In January, BWH launched Safety Matters, an initiative that will enhance the way the hospital communicates about patient safety. Safety Matters includes a section on BWHPikeNotes.org, where materials are available to the entire hospital community with the goal of increasing awareness of errors, patient harm and resulting process improvements. Safety Matters will feature articles about specific errors, along with other messages and system improvements intended to prevent future errors from occurring.

“BWH is a national leader in quality and patient safety, but we know that preventable harm still occurs in hospitals, so we must be open when mistakes happen to ensure that we learn from them,” said Michael Gustafson, MD, MBA, senior vice president for Clinical Excellence.

Currently, the hospital receives more than 8,400 safety reports each year through the electronic safety reporting system With the launch of Safety Matters, hospital leaders hope that all caregivers will feel assured that reporting errors and safety concerns in a blame-free environment is the right thing to do, and that the number of reports will grow, serving to further enhance the measures BWH takes to provide the highest quality care for every patient.

“Ensuring safety is our unwavering obligation to our patients,” said Allen Kachalia, MD, medical director for Quality and Safety. “Telling difficult stories of harm through Safety Matters will help demonstrate our pledge to foster a culture of transparency and to learn from mistakes.”

Note: Safety Matters does not replace the electronic safety reporting system. All BWH staff are encouraged to file confidential safety reports from any PHS workstation under the Start menu.