title: Patient safety: Part I. Patient safety and the dermatologist.
abstract: Congress is grappling with ways to fund health care in the future. Much of the focus rests on paying physicians for their patients' outcomes, rather than the current system of payment for services provided during each visit. The years ahead will be years of change for American health care, with an increasing emphasis on the comparison of patient outcomes and measures of quality. Patient safety initiatives will be an integral part of the overall strategy to improve American health care. Part one of this two-part series on patient safety examines what we know about patient safety in dermatology, including data from medicolegal claims and published data on patient safety in the setting of office-based surgery. The article also focuses on how medical societies, payers, the US government, and the Board of Medical Specialties are responding to calls for accountability and improvements in patient safety.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  After completing this learning activity, participants should be able to identify risks to patient safety based on an understanding of the major causes of legal claims against dermatologists, use published patient safety data to improve the practice of office surgery, and be able to improve patient safety through an understanding of requirements for maintenance of certification.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Dermatology and Pathology, Geisinger Medical Center, 100 N Academy Ave, Danville, PA 17822-1406, USA. dmelston@geisinger.edu
authors.forename: Dirk M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Elston
authors.forename: James S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: Brett
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Coldiron
authors.forename: Antoinette F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Hood
authors.forename: Sandra I
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Read
authors.forename: Jack S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Resneck
authors.forename: Robert S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Kirsner
authors.forename: John C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Maize
authors.forename: Sabra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sullivan
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Laskas
authors.forename: C William
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Hanke
mesh_terms: D002568:Certification / Q000592:standards*; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards*; D003880:Dermatology / Q000592:standards* / Q000639:trends; D004502:Education, Medical, Continuing / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D008318:Malpractice / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019300:Medical Errors / Q000517:prevention & control; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic / Q000592:standards; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D012308:Risk Management; D017751:Safety Management; D012955:Societies, Medical; D014481:United States