Published 13 November 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a2426
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a2426

Analysis

Is health care getting safer?

Charles Vincent, professor of clinical safety research1, Paul Aylin, clinical reader , assistant director 2,3, Bryony Dean Franklin, director, professor of medication safety4,5, Alison Holmes, director of infection prevention and control6, Sandra Iskander, manager1, Ann Jacklin, chief of service, visiting professor7,5, Krishna Moorthy, clinical senior lecturer, consultant in general surgery8,6

1 Imperial Centre for Patient Safety and Service Quality, Department of Biosurgery and Technology, St Mary’s Hospital, London W2 1NY, 2 Division of Epidemiology and Public Health, Imperial College, London, 3 Dr Foster Unit, Imperial College, 4 Centre for Medication Safety and Service Quality, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London, 5 School of Pharmacy, University of London, London, 6 Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, 7 Pharmacy and Therapies, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, 8 Clinical Safety Research Unit, Imperial College

Correspondence to: C Vincent c.vincent@imperial.ac.uk

Despite numerous initiatives to improve patient safety, we have little idea whether they have worked. Charles Vincent and colleagues argue that we need to develop systematic measures

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Patient safety has been high on the national and international agenda in health care for almost a decade. In the United Kingdom, reviews of case records have shown that over 10% of patients experience an adverse event while in hospital,1 2 a figure reflected in similar studies around the world.3 Considerable efforts have been made to improve safety, and it is natural to ask whether these efforts have been well directed. Are patients any safer? The answer to this simple question is curiously elusive. Although some aspects of safety are difficult to measure for technical reasons (defining preventability for instance), the main problem is that measurement and evaluation have not been high on the agenda. We believe that the lack of reliable information on safety and quality of care is hindering improvement in safety across the world.

The principal approach to patient safety in the UK, United States, and many other . . . [Full text of this article]


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