The safe use of medical products can benefit all Americans by helping them live longer and healthier lives. Medical product safety can be increased by decreasing the number of adverse events associated with the products, increasing consumer understanding of how to use drugs and medical devices safely and effectively, and ensuring that the Nation has an adequate supply of safe blood for transfusions.

The objectives of the Medical Product Safety focus area contribute to the Healthy People 2010 overarching goals to increase quality and years of healthy life and eliminate health disparities. The objective for monitoring adverse events associated with therapies showed progress toward its target. Increased surveillance and reporting of defective equipment and medications and unexpected side effects of therapies enhance quality of life by reducing the number of persons exposed to inadvertent harm. Such monitoring keeps quality products on the market while minimizing the threat of injury from products intended to heal.

Another objective addresses the need to increase the use of information technology within health care organizations. Three of the related subobjectives concerning electronic medical records and computerized order entry use made progress toward their targets. These subobjectives reduce health disparities by improving continuity and standardization of care. Having ready access to accurate and up-to-date medical information about a person can help prevent diagnostic and treatment errors by physicians unfamiliar with the patient's history. When adverse events are avoided, individual health is improved.

Three objectives address better product safety through ensuring the delivery of accurate health information. Education about appropriate product use is central to improving quality and length of life, especially in persons requiring chronic medical therapies, by allowing for maximum benefit to be derived from medical products. Further, communicating the product information needed for appropriate use so it is understandable, even to audiences with limited health literacy, can help to eliminate health disparities across the Nation. These objectives seek to improve provider and pharmacy communication with patients about medicines to maximize patients' understanding of their medicines and therapy.

Having a blood supply that is both safe and adequate to meet ongoing and emergency needs can directly contribute to the quality and length of life of all Americans in need of transfusions. An adequate blood supply assures the continued survival of, for example, patients with bleeding disorders and people needing transfusions to address life-threatening blood loss due to acute injuries. However, blood availability is restricted by, among other factors, the number of donors who qualify to give blood. One objective seeks to increase the pool of qualifying donors so that all persons will have access to blood when needed.