PMID- 15551852
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20041223
LR  - 20191109
IS  - 0890-765X (Print)
IS  - 0890-765X (Linking)
VI  - 20
IP  - 4
DP  - 2004 Fall
TI  - Applied strategies for improving patient safety: a comprehensive process to 
      improve care in rural and frontier communities.
PG  - 355-62
AB  - CONTEXT: Medical errors and patient safety have gained increasing attention 
      throughout all areas of medical care. Understanding patient safety in rural 
      settings is crucial for improving care in rural communities. PURPOSE: To describe 
      a system to decrease medical errors and improve care in rural and frontier 
      primary care offices. METHODS: Applied Strategies for Improving Patient Safety 
      (ASIPS) was a demonstration project designed to collect and analyze medical error 
      reports and use these reports to develop and implement interventions aimed at 
      decreasing errors. ASIPS participants were clinicians and staff in 2 
      practice-based research networks: the Colorado Research Network (CaReNet) and the 
      High Plains Research Network (HPRN). This paper describes ASIPS in HPRN. 
      FINDINGS: Fourteen HPRN practices with a total of 150 clinicians and staff have 
      participated in ASIPS. Participants have submitted 128 reports. Diagnostic tests 
      were involved in 26% of events; medication errors appeared in 20% of events. 
      Communication errors were reported in 72%. Two learning groups developed 
      "Principles for Process Improvement" for medication errors and diagnostic testing 
      errors. Several safety "alerts" were issued to improve care, and 2 interventions 
      were implemented to decrease errors. CONCLUSIONS: A safe and secure reporting 
      system that relies on voluntary reporting from clinicians and staff can be 
      successfully implemented in rural primary care settings. Information from reports 
      can be used to identify processes that can be improved.
FAU - Westfall, John M
AU  - Westfall JM
AD  - Department of Family Medicine, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, 
      Aurora, CO 80045-0508, USA. jack.westfall@uchsc.edu
FAU - Fernald, Douglas H
AU  - Fernald DH
FAU - Staton, Elizabeth W
AU  - Staton EW
FAU - VanVorst, Rebecca
AU  - VanVorst R
FAU - West, David
AU  - West D
FAU - Pace, Wilson D
AU  - Pace WD
LA  - eng
GR  - 5U18HS011878-02/HS/AHRQ HHS/United States
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.
PL  - England
TA  - J Rural Health
JT  - The Journal of rural health : official journal of the American Rural Health 
      Association and the National Rural Health Care Association
JID - 8508122
SB  - IM
MH  - Colorado
MH  - Computer Security
MH  - *Confidentiality
MH  - Health Care Surveys
MH  - Hospital Information Systems/organization & administration
MH  - Hospitals, Rural/*standards/statistics & numerical data
MH  - Humans
MH  - Medical Record Linkage/*methods
MH  - Medical Records Systems, Computerized/*statistics & numerical data
MH  - Medication Errors/*prevention & control
MH  - *Quality Assurance, Health Care/organization & administration
MH  - Safety Management/*organization & administration/statistics & numerical data
MH  - Surveys and Questionnaires
MH  - Total Quality Management/organization & administration
EDAT- 2004/11/24 09:00
MHDA- 2004/12/24 09:00
CRDT- 2004/11/24 09:00
PHST- 2004/11/24 09:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2004/12/24 09:00 [medline]
PHST- 2004/11/24 09:00 [entrez]
AID - 10.1111/j.1748-0361.2004.tb00049.x [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - J Rural Health. 2004 Fall;20(4):355-62. doi: 10.1111/j.1748-0361.2004.tb00049.x.