AHRQ's PS Net: Spiking the Kool-Aid with Truth Serum

Florence dot com has been on holiday. As I reflect on the hiatus, it's helpful to remember that the real Florence spent the final twenty years of her life in bed. (That's not what I've been doing, but it's information that helps establish expectations.) At the outset of this renewal, there are a few things about patient safety worth reiterating.

Few people are really "new" to patient safety. You become seasoned--recognizing what's gone right and what has or may have gone wrong--as soon as you begin to give or receive healthcare. Patient safety, simply put, is the science of preventing people from being harmed as a result of their need to seek care and how care is provided.

If you're a seasoned healthcare provider but new to the term "patient safety" or uncertain how it captures work you may be familiar with, I recommend viewing the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's Patient Safety Network (AHRQ PS Net) site. It's a place where initiatives and approaches--some very familiar to bedside clinicians--are organized and categorized according to "where stuff happens," "how stuff happens," "why stuff happens," and "how to prevent stuff from happening." You get the point.

The site may sound academic, but it's not. Behind the taxonomy and useful glossary are a lot of easy-reads. Web M&M presentations, for example, rival prime time drama. (Just imagine the Kool-Aid in the screenwriter's room at House being spiked with truth serum.)

I hope you'll enjoy the (mostly) real-time dialogue about patient safety (and other things that capture my attention or imagination for a moment or two) this year!