The Joint Commission and Joint Commission Resources (JCR) established the Joint Commission International Center for Patient Safety in March 2005. The Center is a natural extension of the well-established patient safety activities for which the Joint Commission and JCR are recognized. The Center leverages the expertise, resources and knowledge from both the Joint Commission and JCR. The mission of the center is: To continuously improve patient safety in all health care settings.
Recognized as a leader in patient safety, the Joint Commission promotes and provides for the delivery of safe, high-quality care through its standards, sentinel event database, Sentinel Event Alert, Speak UpTM programs and, most recently, its National Patient Safety Goals. The Patient Safety Center allows the Joint Commission and JCR to advance the entire continuum of patient safety including principles related to system design and redesign, product safety, safety of services, and environment of care, as well as offering proactive solutions for patient safety, whether based on empirical evidence, hard research or best practices.
In August 2005, the World Health Organization (WHO) designated the Joint Commission and Joint Commission International (a component of JCR) as the world's first WHO Collaborating Centre dedicated solely to patient safety as part of its major initiative-the World Alliance for Patient Safety. The Joint Commission International Center for Patient Safety is the operational arm for this collaboration. By working collaboratively with ministries of health and national patient safety organizations and experts, health care professional organizations and patient/consumer groups, the Collaborating Center focuses worldwide attention on Patient Safety Solutions, Patient Safety Practices and other initiatives that will reduce safety risks to patients and coordinates these activities nationally and internationally as effectively as possible.
Solutions and related activities
The Center has created a collaborative network to obtain input, feedback, and guidance from an advisory group of patient safety experts, five global regional advisory councils, and strategic domestic and international partnerships with other patient safety-focused organizations. The Center:
- Collaborates on a variety of activities with other leading patient safety organizations around the globe to achieve its goals of improving patient safety in all health care settings.
- Similarly, collaborates to identify, develop, prioritize, disseminate, and implement Patient Safety Solutions.
- Is a credible source of valid and meaningful information and education about patient safety with its Patient Safety Practices database, electronic publication, and other resources.
- Engages practitioners, providers, patients, and families in improving patient safety.
- Advocates for public policy that promotes patient safety.
- Conducts research related to patient safety.
The initial set of international Patient Safety Solutions is developed and future Solutions will be developed on a scheduled basis. The draft solutions are reviewed by the Center's International Steering Committee and the European, Middle East, and Asia Pacific Regional Advisory Groups. An Internet-based international field review is then performed to solicit further public input on the Solutions prior to their dissemination.
A subset of five of the Patient Safety Solutions are being further developed for use in a pilot project funded by the World Health Organization and the Commonwealth Fund. The project, coordinated by the Center, is called "Patient Safety in Action" and is focused on learning the various issues related to successful implementation of five solutions in at least seven countries.
The website of the Joint Commission International Patient Safety Center www.jcipatientsafety.org, provides resources and information about patient safety for patients, their families, personnel from health care institutions, and all health care professionals, including physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and other allied professionals. This website is designed to help improve the overall quality of care and patient safety in a multitude of health care environments. The website includes the Joint Commission's Sentinel Event Alert patient safety newsletter, patient safety tools, and a series of brochures on how to prevent medical mistakes, in addition to other resources.
In April 2006, the Center launched a new resource on its website called Patient Safety Practices: An Online Resource for Improving Patient Safety. The resource is available at http://www.jcipatientsafety.org/psp and features links to more than 900 established sites that include a wide variety of respected domestic and international patient safety sources. The database draws heavily upon the classification system suggested by the Sentinel Event Database that was created by the Joint Commission more than a decade ago. The Patient Safety Practices are organized under broad clinical event and health care process or clinical outcomes headings which are further broken down into categories and specific topic areas.
For more information
Please visit the Patient Safety Center website at jcipatientsafety.org, e-mail info@jcipatientsafety.org, or call (630) 268-7455.