Proposed patient safety group looks to aviation model to improve processes

A paper published in the most recent issue of Health Affairs highlights some of the areas in which patient safety could be improved by utilizing aviation principles. A new proposed patient safety group, the Public Private Partnership to Promote Patient Safety (P5S), seeks to improve healthcare and reduce medical errors by adopting the same techniques that the aviation industry used to reduce fatal accidents. The Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST) has been meeting regularly since the mid-1990s to collaborate as an industry on how to make it safer by analyzing accident reports and making recommendations.

A team of researchers led by Peter Pronovost, MD, spells out in its paper exactly what a team like CAST could do for healthcare. There are many different barriers present in bringing this model to healthcare, but the central idea—that the healthcare industry as a whole should work together to reduce sentinel events—remains the same. This model would include every part of the healthcare continuum- from staff practices within the hospital to the way in which medical equipment is manufactured.

Some of the barriers listed in the paper include:

• Funding—the aviation industry depended on group members to finance and send staff members to participate in CAST. The healthcare industry has fewer resources with which to use for initiatives like this. One option is government funding, and although the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality supports this initiative, it is unlikely that the government would be able to provide full funding.
• Multiple stakeholders taking part—the many sectors of healthcare need to get on the same page and decide what they will work together on to improve quality of care.
• Differences from the CAST model—the aviation industry is somewhat less complex than the healthcare industry in that there are hundreds clinical areas that all have their own set of hazards.
• Convincing hospitals that patient safety is something that needs a large investment—it is difficult to persuade hospitals presently that taking part in an initiative like this without guaranteeing an immediate return on investment. Patient safety needs to be seen as something to which attention should be paid regardless of immediate financial return, although it is becoming apparent that the two are linked.

To read the full paper, click here.