Partnership for Patient Safety Releases Survey Results, Announces Plans to Produce First Do No Harm Part 3

CHICAGO, July 14, 2004 - Earlier this year Partnership for Patient Safety (p4ps) surveyed all the customers who purchased the interactive training video, First Do No Harm Part 2: Taking the Lead, which was jointly developed by p4ps and Risk Management Foundation of the Harvard Medical Institutions. The objectives were to explore how this tool was being used and what the patient safety issues, concerns and priorities of users were. First Do No Harm Part 2 users also were invited to provide feedback about which aspects of this interactive training tool were helpful in advancing patient safety efforts in their own healthcare organizations.

"The response rate to the survey was a gratifying 23.3%," said p4ps President, Martin J. Hatlie, "and the feedback we received offers a valuable snapshot of where healthcare organizations are today, as we approach the five year anniversary of the IOM Report." The landmark Institute of Medicine call to action on patient safety, To Err is Human: Building a Safer Healthcare System (National Academy Press, Washington, DC, 2000), was released on November 30, 1999.

Survey findings include:

• Sixty-four percent of respondents said their organizations took patient safety very seriously and devoted significant resources to it, while 24% indicated that they were behind other organizations and just beginning to take patient safety seriously. Twenty-seven percent of respondents described their organizations as patient safety leaders, but an equal number felt their organizations should be doing more. Seven percent cited budget constraints as the reason behind organizational reluctance to do more.
• Respondents ranked these four issues as critically important (4.5 or higher on a 1 to 5 scale) in their organizations' patient safety work:
  • Making patient safety the #1 priority of their organization,
  • Teamwork failure and communications issues,
  • Systemic analyses of failure in a non-punitive manner, and
  • Assisting healthcare personnel (the "second victim") in dealing with the trauma of being involved in a systems failure.
• When asked to describe the biggest obstacles to advancing patient safety in their organizations, respondents most often cited two issues:
  • Competing with other financial priorities, and
  • Getting management to support and promote patient safety to a greater extent.
• Respondents placed a high value on using the First Do No Harm films as a tool for increasing understanding about patient safety issues among clinical staff (75%), leadership (63%) and middle managers (54%). Sixty-four percent found the films useful in improving communication and teamwork among staff, while 13% indicated that the films had helped their organization prevent lawsuits.

"Respondents took the time to share their experience with the film in detail, and we're grateful for that", said Hatlie. "The high response rate and many thoughtful suggestions from the worldwide patient safety community prompted us to make the production of First Do No Harm Part 3 a real priority for p4ps this year."

First Do No Harm Part 3 is now in development, with an anticipated delivery date of November 15, 2004.

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