Title: Enhancing and measuring patient safety with an innovative web-based systems approach

Authors: Ranjit Singh, Ashok Singh, Chimay Anumba, Gurdev Singh

Addresses: UB Patient Safety Research Center, University at Buffalo, Room CC155, 462 Grider Street, Buffalo, NY 14215, USA. ' Niagara Family Medicine Associates, Porter Rd., Niagara Falls, NY 14092, USA. ' Architectural Engineering Department, The Pennsylvania State University, 104 Engineering Unit A, University Park, PA 16802, USA. ' UB Patient Safety Research Center, University at Buffalo, Room CC155, 462 Grider Street, Buffalo, NY 14215, USA

Abstract: All nations carry a huge burden of unsafe healthcare. Use of appropriate technology and its meaningful use have a huge potential to help lighten this burden. The World Health Organization has declared Patient Safety to be a Basic Human Right. The authors support the assertion by the US Institute of Medicine that there can be no quality of care without safety. The unique nature of each healthcare setting means that |off-the-shelf| top-down solutions seldom work. There is a pressing need to develop safety improvement and measurement methodologies. The purpose of the work reported here was therefore to develop a bottom-up methodology in which staff is empowered through an IT-assisted systems approach. This failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA) approach is based upon an error reduction intervention cycle. The methodology is highly adaptable for any healthcare setting and appears to be very suitable for measuring the effects of improvement interventions.

Keywords: failure mode and effects analysis; FMEA; healthcare safety; information technology; safety measurement; patient safety; safety improvement; systems approach; employee empowerement; internet; web-based; error reduction intervention.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAIP.2011.039747

International Journal of Advanced Intelligence Paradigms, 2011 Vol.3 No.2, pp.164 - 177

Published online: 30 Sep 2014 *

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