Patient safety – the belief that patients should not be harmed by the care they receive-is a primary focus of UI Hospitals and Clinics. Every staff person on every level works to ensure that each patient gets the best and safest care.

UI Hospitals and Clinics continuously improves performance to meet the following National Patent Safety Goals:

• Improve the accuracy of patient identification
• Improve the effectiveness of communication among caregivers
• Improve the safety of using medications
• Reduce the likelihood of patient harm from the use of anticoagulation therapy
• Reduce the risk of healthcare associated infections
• Ensure accurate medication reconciliation
• Reduce the risk of harm from patient falls
• Encourage patients to be involved in their own care as a patient safety strategy
• Improve recognition and response to changes in a patients condition

UI Hospitals and Clinics staff members use the following programs to help us provide safe care to our patients:

• Patient Safety Net (PSN) – This is a web based incident reporting system used by all staff to report when they witness unsafe conditions, near misses (events where an event almost reached a patient, or events resulting in harm to patients or staff. All events are reviewed for improvement opportunities because we know patient safety is enhanced by creating a work culture in which openness and learning are valued.
• Multidisciplinary Incident Investigation Team (MIIT) – Staff representing 14 disciplines meet weekly to review all incidents resulting in harm or any worrisome near misses or unsafe events involving our patients or staff. This team works to initiate improvements and educate staff on a real time basis.
• Partners in Safety – This program encourages patients and family to become actively involved in their care and to “speak up” when they have safety related concerns. Management staff visits inpatient units routinely to visit with patients and help address any concerns they may have.
• For you safety, our staff will:
• Check your name and birth date before giving medicines, taking blood, or having a procedure
• Mark your surgical site with a pen before entering the operating room
• Take a “time out” before surgery to make sure we have the right person, right site, and right type of surgery or procedure.
• For your safety we ask our patients and/or families to:           
• Bring a list of your current medications, vitamins, or supplements to all appointments
• Bring a list of your allergies to medications or food
• Ask your visitors to wash their hands or use hand sanitizer before entering or leaving your room
• Expect our staff to wash their hands or use hand sanitizer before caring for you. Feel free to ask staff to cleanse their hands again if you are concerned.
• Ask questions if you do not understand your medications, treatments, or plans of care.
• Rapid Response Team (RRT)  - In 2005 we established a process for our health care staff to directly request additional assistance from specially trained individuals when a patients ‘condition appears to be worsening. One of the goals of this program was to decrease the number of code blues outside of intensive care. Since this program was established we have had over 250 documented RRT calls with 83% of our patients surviving and our overall mortality rate decreasing. The number of code blues outside of intensive care has declined. The number of code blues outside of intensive care has declined.