Patient Safety
Surpass your safety targets.
The Joint Commission has been in the business of health care quality for more than 60 years. Since 1951 we’ve accredited or certified nearly 21,000 health care organizations and programs. It’s a milestone we’ve reached gradually, year by year, one facility at a time.
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The journey to zero harm moves at a similar pace. Slowly and steadily we’re working with you to improve patient safety, marching toward the day when health care is viewed as a high-reliability industry.
We’ve learned a lot along the way, and put those lessons into practice. Together with providers like you, we constantly study emerging patient safety issues – and roll out evidence-based methods to solve them.
We encourage you to explore our collection of best practices, reference materials and other resources. Take advantage of our award-winning Speak Up program, which has carried our patient safety message to more than 40 countries. Review our National Patient Safety Goals® or sign up for our safety-related alerts and newsletter, Sentinel Event Alert and Quick Safety below.
Patient Safety Resources
- This list is part of the Information Management standards
- Does not apply to pre-programmed health information technology systems (i.e., electronic medical records or CPOE systems), but remains under consideration for the future
Organizations contemplating introduction or upgrade of such systems should strive to eliminate the use of dangerous abbreviations, acronyms, symbols and dose designations from the software.
In 2010, the look-alike/sound-alike requirement (NPSG.02.02.01) was moved to the standards and can be found at Medication Management standard MM.01.02.01, EP 1:
The hospital develops a list of look-alike/sound-alike medications it stores, dispenses, or administers.
Note: One source of look-alike/sound-alike medications is The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP).
The Joint Commission web site no longer maintains a look-alike/sound-alike medication list; please refer to the ISMP web site referenced above for a current list of look-alike/sound-alike medications.
Advancing Effective Communication, Cultural Competence, and Patient-and Family-Centered Care
Effective patient-provider communication is critical to the successful delivery of health care services. The Joint Commission supports a number of efforts to improve communication between health care providers and patients, including standards, monographs, videos, and other resources.
Health care professionals whose focus is on patient safety are very familiar with these alarming and frequently cited statistics from the Institute of Medicine: medical errors result in the death of between 44,000 and 98,000 patients every year. Health care professionals whose focus is on occupational health and safety, however, are likely aware of additional statistics that are less well known: health care workers experience some of the highest rates of nonfatal occupational illness and injury—exceeding even construction and manufacturing industries.
Patient Safety Related Products and Events
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Patient Safety Topics
- Emergency Management
- Health Equity
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Infection Prevention and Control
- Infection Prevention and Control
- Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infections Toolkit and Monograph
- Ambulatory Health Care Infection Prevention and Control
- Antimicrobial Stewardship
- Behavioral Health Care Infection Prevention and Control
- Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections
- Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infections
- Compendium of Strategies to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections
- Critical Access Hospital Infection Prevention and Control
- Dental
- Disinfection and Sterilization
- General Infection Prevention and Control
- Guidelines
- Hand Hygiene
- High Reliability and Infection Prevention
- Home Care Infection Prevention and Control
- Hospital Infection Prevention and Control
- Infection Prevention and Control Hierarchy
- Infection Prevention and Control Safety Alerts
- Infectious Disease Outbreaks and Response
- Influenza and Other Related Diseases
- Laboratory Infection Prevention and Control
- Legionnaires' Disease
- Multidrug-Resistant Organisms
- Nursing Care Center Infection Prevention and Control
- Respiratory Protection
- Sepsis
- Surgical Site Infections
- Vaccination
- Pain Management
- Patient Safety
- Report a Patient Safety Concern or Complaint
- Sentinel Event
- Suicide Prevention
- The Physical Environment
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Workplace Violence Prevention
- Workplace Violence Prevention
- Joint Commission Blog Posts
- Joint Commission Podcasts
- Joint Commission Presentations
- Joint Commission Research Resources
- Joint Commission Resources Newsletters
- Joint Commission Resources and OSHA Alliance
- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
- American Hospital Association
- American Nurses Association
- American Psychiatric Association
- American Psychiatric Nurses Association
- American Society for Healthcare Risk Management
- Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety
- CDC/National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health
- Crisis Prevention Institute
- Compendium of Resources
- Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance
- ECRI Institute
- Emergency Nurses Association
- Federal Bureau of Investigation
- From the Field
- Government Accountability Office
- DHS/Healthcare and Public Health Sector Coordinating Council
- iAdvance Senior Care
- Implementing Strategies for Safer Healthcare Organizations Webinar
- Institute for Healthcare Improvement
- International Association for Healthcare Security and Safety
- Massachusetts Department of Mental Health
- Minnesota Department of Health
- National Safety Council
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration
- Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response
- Ontario Safety Association for Community and Healthcare
- Oregon Association of Hospitals & Health Systems
- Sentinel Event Alert and Quick Safety newsletters
- Standards Related Information
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
- Washington State Department of Labor & Industries
- Willis Towers Watson