The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) http://ihi.org and the National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF) www.npsf.org announced plans during “Patient Safety Awareness Week” to merge the two organizations on May 1, 2017.
IHI President and CEO, Derek Feeley to lead the combined organization, said, “Now is the perfect time for the two organizations to join forces to help reset and reenergize the patient safety agenda.”
Feeley adds, “Safety now competes for attention and resources with other important issues such as value-driven care and population health. By joining forces, IHI and NPSF will be more effective in helping leaders and frontline clinicians meet all of today’s challenges while ensuring that patient safety remains a priority along the way.”
With the news of the merger, NPSF has released the document titled “Call to Action: Preventable Health Care Harm is a Public Health Crisis and Patient Safety Requires a Coordinated Public Health Response.”
According to Tejal K. Gandhi, MD, NPSF President and CEO, “The “Call to Action” outlines a multipronged ongoing approach to systematically monitor, measure, and improve patient safety across the continuum of care through partnerships and collaboration among policy makers, healthcare leaders, professional associations, and others”.
The document outlines how a public health framework can bring about widespread advances in patient safety and provides specific recommendations to help reduce harm to patients and the workforce.
The “Call to Action” presents six broad categories of recommendations, ranging from establishing a national steering committee along with a national action plan to help prevent healthcare associated harm, to a call to expand or develop education, training, plus additional resources for the healthcare workforce.