The Maryland Patient Safety Center, in collaboration with Courtemanche & Associates, has created a patient safety certification for organizations. The program is designed to provide organizational certification through Patient Safety Champions, with the Patient Safety Officer as the leader, who network with individuals at all levels of the organization, clinical and non-clinical, and share critical risk reduction strategies to eliminate errors and enhance safety culture throughout the organization.
The program promotes cultural change and commitment to patient safety initiatives, and data-driven decision making and prioritization. The organization identifies specific patient safety issues, and develops and implements action plans utilizing concepts of high reliability and positive psychology.
An analysis of the needs of the field was conducted in which the following outcomes were identified and incorporated into the curriculum design.
The nine module curriculum consists of facilitating discovery through affirmative interviewing, use of proactive risk assessment, solutions building, change management, rapid process improvement, fostering accountability and creating sustainability.
Previous organizations, over the course of their participation in the program, experienced: