title: Patient safety--the VA's experience.
abstract: An overarching principle of medicine is "First Do No Harm." Indeed, as the Institute of Medicine recently highlighted, without safety, there is no quality. The Veterans Health Administration of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the nation's largest integrated health system, has made a commitment to safe patient care. Programmatic responsibility for supporting this commitment resides in the National Center for Patient Safety (NCPS).
authors.affiliation: Veterans Health Administration's National Center for Patient Safety, Ann Arbor, USA.
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Bagian
mesh_terms: D019033:Delivery of Health Care, Integrated / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006285:Health Planning; D006801:Humans; D007857:Leadership; D005791:Patient Care / Q000592:standards*; D017751:Safety Management; D014481:United States; D014493:United States Department of Veterans Affairs / Q000458:organization & administration*