Safety Medical errors and Quality Improvement

Safety Medical errors and Quality Improvement

Health care organizations and professionals strive to create safe environments for patients however, due to the
complexity of the health care system, maintaining safety can be a challenge. Since nurses comprise the largest
group of health care professionals, a great deal of responsibility falls in the hands of practicing nurses. Quality
improvement (QI) measures and safety improvement plans are effective interventions to reduce medical errors
and sentinel events such as medication errors, falls, infections, and deaths. A 2000 Institute of Medicine (IOM)
report indicated that almost one million people are harmed annually in the United States, (Kohn et al., 2000)