The issue of patient safety has continued to attract public, media and political attention since the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) report of medical errors in 1999. To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System received major media coverage and spurred presidential action for research and endorsement of many of IOM’s recommendations and strategies for improving patient safety. The IOM report emphasized that errors are almost always the result of a flawed system, not a careless provider, and suggested methods for strengthening systems.

Ohio has responded as well, forming several patient safety organizations dedicated to designing better systems and educating patients and physicians. These efforts continue to improve the safety environment in Ohio’s hospitals.

On the federal front, legislation regarding the voluntary reporting of errors was passed by the House and is currently working its way through the Senate with support from the American Hospital Association and OHA. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations also requires hospitals to meet national patient safety goals as of January 2003, and the Federal Drug Administration plans to require barcoding on medication, which would reduce medical errors by 50-80 percent.

Within Ohio, hospitals are working to evolve from paper to handheld technology and electronic medical records. OPSI, a collaboration between OHA and the Ohio State Medical Association to reduce medical errors and improve patient safety in Ohio, soon will provide evaluation tools and information to assist hospitals with system planning and the integration of paperless systems.

To further increase safety precautions, Ohioans FiR_xst, a cooperation of 13 Ohio organizations dedicated to patient safety, has also launched a statewide campaign to eliminate the use of five abbreviations frequently cited as contributing to medication errors.

Physicians, pharmacists, nurses and other health care workers have also accepted the challenge of increasing patient safety. To support their efforts, OPSI anticipates a fall distribution of an interactive medication administration CD and will offer professional education stressing the importance of medication safety. With the busy schedules and growing number of patients many health care workers face, these resources serve as a reminder to remain vigilant on key patient safety issues.

Informing patients, and engaging them in protecting their own safety, is also vital to Ohio’s patient safety efforts. In addition to the efforts of individual hospitals to educate their patients, OPSI produces informational literature including medication brochures suitable for low literacy, English-as-a-second-language and geriatric patients. The organization also holds brown bag sessions where patients bring all of their medications for review. In past sessions, one-third of the participants had medications with possible drug interactions and 14 percent had drug duplications.

Patient safety remains a high priority in Ohio and with the continued support of legislators, hospitals, health care workers and patients, Ohio will be a leader on this important issue.