The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) https://www.va.gov have selected their FY-2019-2021 “Patient Safety Centers of Inquiry” (PSCI) funding recipients. The VA National Center for Patient Safety (NCPS) administers the PSCI program and provides three years of funding for a PSCI to develop, disseminate and implement clinically relevant innovations to improve patient safety throughout the VA.
PSCI proposals were selected out of 36 applications in a highly competitive review process. The interdisciplinary PSCI review committee consisted of patient safety experts including physicians, nurses, psychologists, and pharmacists.
The 2019-2021 PSCIs funding recipients working on specific veteran safety issues include:
- The VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System in Michigan is promoting the appropriate use of two medical devices to include urinary catheters and peripherally inserted central catheters to prevent healthcare-associated complications
- The Center for Medication Safety in Aging, located at the James J. Peters VA Medical Center in Bronx N.Y, serves as a dissemination hub to reduce adverse medication effects in older adult veterans and veterans exhibiting dementia
- The Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center in Charleston South Carolina is working to improve outcomes for veterans transitioning between VA and non-VA care settings by specifically focusing on medication safety
- The Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston Texas, is working with the VA’s Diagnosis Improvement Safety Center to prevent diagnostic errors by improving timely follow-up of abnormal test results
- The Center for Antimicrobial Stewardship and Prevention of Antimicrobial Resistance is going to develop and test automated risk adjusted metrics and evaluation tools for the Iowa City VA Healthcare System
- The VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System is focused on helping veterans especially elderly veterans with complex care issues transition especially when veterans are transitioning in and out of hospitals
- The VA Puget Sound Healthcare System is helping primary care providers identify patients at high risk for adverse opioid related outcomes and effectively be able to monitor these patients
- The James A. Haley Veterans Hospital in Tampa Florida is working to prevent adverse events related to mobility/immobility with the focus on preventing falls, providing safe patient handling, and how to effectively prevent pressure ulcers
- The Doris Miller VA Medical Center in Waco Texas, is working to prevent suicides by developing, implementing and evaluating practical solutions for veterans that presently are not receiving VA care
- The White River Junction VA Medical Center in Vermont is piloting an evidence-based program to decrease suicide risk following psychiatric discharge in the VA treatment population
Go to https://www.patientsafety.va.gov/professionals/centers.asp for more information on PSCIs.