For-Public-Inner-Hero
You are here
Fact Sheets
Consumer Information on Patient Safety
Several government and non-profit organizations have developed excellent materials to provide guidance to patients and their families on issues related to patient safety and quality of care. Some of these organizations are listed below:
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's (AHRQ) mission is to improve the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care for all Americans. Information from AHRQ’s research helps people make more informed decisions and improve the quality of health care services. AHRQ has published several excellent consumer-focused brochures on patient safety. To view these documents, simply click on the link:
Guide to Health Care Quality: How to Know It When You See It
Five Steps to Safer Health Care
20 Tips to Prevent Medical Errors and
Ways You Can Help Your Family Prevent Medical Errors
The National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF) is dedicated to improving the safety of patients through its efforts to: identify and create a core body of knowledge; identify pathways to apply the knowledge; develop and enhance the culture of receptivity to patient safety; raise public awareness and foster communications about patient safety; and improve the status of the Foundation and its ability to meet its goals. In addition to maintaining an exhaustive bibliography on patient safety, the NPSF also has developed several patient safety educational documents aimed at consumers, including their Universal Patient Compact: Principles for Partnership.
The mission of the Joint Commission is to continuously improve the safety and quality of care provided to the public through the provision of health care accreditation and related services that support performance improvement in health care organizations. An independent, not-for-profit organization, it is the nation’s predominant standards-setting and accrediting body in health care, evaluating and accrediting more than 15,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. The Joint Commission has developed several brochures, such as How to Prevent Errors in Your Care, Tips to Prevent Medication Mistakes, and others, which may be accessed by visiting the Joint Commission's Speak Up Campaign.
