National Quality Forum 30 safe practices: priority and progress in Iowa hospitals.
The National Quality Forum (NQF) recently released a list of "30 Safe Practices" that were identified as relevant for all hospitals. The purpose of the present analysis was to assess hospitals' perceptions of each of the NQF 30 Safe Practices in terms of priority and progress. One hundred of Iowa's hospitals (86%) completed a survey. The highest progress ratings were for items involving hand washing, unit-dose medication dispensing, influenza vaccinations, implementing protocols to prevent wrong-site procedures, and standardized methods for labeling and storing medications. The lowest progress ratings were for intensive care units staffed by intensivists and implementing a computerized provider order entry system. Overall, safe practices that have been recommended for some time had higher priority and progress ratings. Most safe practices were equally endorsed by large and small hospitals, suggesting that the NQF goal of identifying safe hospital practices may be attainable for most of the safe practices.
Department of Health Management and Policy, University of Iowa, 200 Hawkins Drive, E210GH, Iowa City, IA 52242-1008, USA. marcia-m-ward@uiowa.edu
Marcia M
MM
Ward
Thomas C
TC
Evans
Arthur J
AJ
Spies
Lance L
LL
Roberts
Douglas S
DS
Wakefield
D003625:Data Collection; D006739:Hospital Administration; D007484:Iowa; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D017751:Safety Management