Patient Safety Solutions

No adverse event should ever occur anywhere in the world if the knowledge exists to prevent it from happening. However, such knowledge is of little use if it is not put into practice. Translating knowledge into practical solutions is the ultimate foundation of the safety solutions action area of the World Health Organization (WHO) World Alliance for Patient Safety.

The development of Patient Safety Solutions is a joint initiative of The Joint Commission and Joint Commission International in their role as a WHO Collaborating Center for Patient Safety. The basic purpose of the solutions is to guide the re-design of care processes to prevent inevitable human errors from actually reaching patients.  Each solution presents the problem, the strength of evidence supporting the solution, potential barriers to adoption, risks of unintended consequences created by the solution, patient and family roles in the solution, and references and other resources.

Patient Safety Solutions are defined as:

"Any system design or intervention that has demonstrated the ability
to prevent or mitigate patient harm stemming from the processes of health care."

Nine Patient Safety Solutions

In April 2007, the International Steering Committee approved nine solutions for dissemination.  The solutions are available on the Joint Commission International Center for Patient Safety website.   Click here to view the nine inaugural patient safety solutions.