| Two national advisory councils representing physicians and
nurses have issued a joint report that calls for significant
changes in the health care system to reduce medical errors and
improve patient safety.
Called Collaborative
Education to Ensure Patient Safety, the report says
that greater interdisciplinary education and practice among
physicians and nurses will encourage the collaboration, communication
and coordination of services needed to enhance patient safety
in health care systems.
The document is the product of a joint effort between the
Council on Graduate Medical Education and the National Advisory
Council on Nurse Education and Practice. COGME and NACNEP
are congressionally mandated advisory bodies established to
advise the Secretary of Health and Human Services and Congress
on physician and nurse workforce, education and practice improvement
policies. HRSA's Bureau of Health Professions provides
administrative support for both entities.
The report answers the call for significant changes in the
U.S. health care system contained in the Institute of Medicine's
2000 study, To
Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System.
The IOM study estimated that medical errors kill 98,000 Americans
annually. IOM recently issued a follow-up report, Crossing
the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st
Century, with recommendations that echo those of COGME
and NACNEP.
Copies of the COGME-NACNEP report may be obtained from the
HRSA Information Center.
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