title: Overcoming barriers to patient safety.
abstract: Creating a culture of patient safety is a critical goal of all patient care unit staff. An analysis of the key barriers to patient safety on a typical inpatient unit in an acute care hospital (unclear unit values), the fear of punishment for errors, the lack of systematic analysis of mistakes, the complexity of the nurses' work, and inadequate teamwork are presented. Nine practices to overcome these barriers and achieve patient safety are discussed.
authors.affiliation: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Beatrice J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Kalisch
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aebersold
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003659:Decision Making, Organizational; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D004647:Employee Discipline; D005239:Fear; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D019300:Medical Errors / Q000379:methods / Q000451:nursing / Q000517:prevention & control*; D009042:Motivation; D009718:Nurse Administrators / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000523:psychology; D009740:Nursing Staff / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000523:psychology; D009745:Nursing, Supervisory / Q000458:organization & administration; D015279:Organizational Culture; D009937:Organizational Objectives; D011678:Punishment / Q000523:psychology; D017751:Safety Management / Q000458:organization & administration*; D013597:Systems Analysis; D014941:Work Simplification; D016526:Workload