Hospital Progress in Reducing Error: The Impact of External Interventions

Millions of Americans are harmed each year from medical errors. New patient safety standards, voluntary and mandatory error reporting, and increased public awareness have been interventions to improve patient safety. The author performed a survey of 145 hospital administrators from 48 states using the Baldrige 2006 Heath Care Criteria for Performance Excellence to investigate quality improvement efforts to reduce medical errors. Hospital administrators reported significant progress in implementing quality improvement processes that have reduced medical errors. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) accreditation was an effective intervention to drive efforts to reduce medical errors, whereas state medical error reporting and public awareness were not effective interventions.