The healthcare field has made significant effort to accelerate patient safety since publication of To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System, the Institute of Medicine’s groundbreaking 1999 report on medical errors.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has awarded a $4.8 million grant to the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) to help communities develop capability to improve health and to spread effective community-driven approaches to help build a Culture of Health.

Huron Consulting Group Inc., a provider of business consulting services, has entered into an agreement to acquire Studer Group, a professional services firm that assists healthcare providers achieve cultural transformation to deliver and sustain exceptional improvement in clinical outcomes and financial results.

EngagingPatients.org, an online community dedicated to sharing best practices in patient and family engagement, has opened nominations for the 2015 John Q. Sherman Award for Excellence in Patient Engagement.

The Midwest Alliance for Patient Safety (MAPS) and ECRI Institute, two patient safety organization (PSO) leaders, are combining their synergies to help guide the transformation of patient care in Illinois and beyond.

Is empathy a core component of “evidence-based medicine”? One prominent researcher and author in the area of empathy in patient care argues that the answer is unequivocally “yes” and says that it can and should be evaluated, taught, and sustained, as studies show a high correlation between patient satisfaction and outcomes with empathy scores. 

Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety (TeamSTEPPS®) is an evidence-based set of teamwork tools, aimed at optimizing patient outcomes by improving communication and teamwork skills among healthcare professionals.

The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) is proud to announce its annual awards winners.