title: Evaluating Safety Initiatives in Healthcare.
abstract: Substantial attention over the last decade has focused on ensuring improvement in the increasingly complex world of healthcare. This has resulted in significant efforts in the arena of patient safety. The issue of how best to evaluate the validity of patient safety initiatives is a matter of significant discussion. Many quality improvement initiatives in healthcare are poorly developed, with few patient safety interventions sharing characteristics with evidence based medicine. We will discuss the key elements of a framework as an example to help structure our thinking and approach to answer these questions. Elements include an explanation of the theoretical basis, the use of appropriate measures, detailing of the involved processes, assessment of the initiative itself as well as the contextual factors surrounding it.
authors: Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. 600 North Wolfe Street, Meyer 297-A, Baltimore, MD 21287 P: 410-502-2714 F: 410-955-8978 alatif1@jhmi.edu.
authors: Asad
authors: A
authors: Latif
authors: Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. 750 East Pratt Street, 15 Floor, Baltimore, MD 21202 P: 410-637-4391 F: 410-637-4380 cholzmu1@jhmi.edu.
authors: Christine G
authors: CG
authors: Holzmueller
authors: Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 600 North Wolfe Street, Meyer 295, Baltimore, MD 21287, P: 410-502-6127, F: 410-955-8978, ppronovo@jhmi.edu.
authors: Peter J
authors: PJ
authors: Pronovost
keywords: Quality improvement; best practices; evaluation; framework; improvement science; monitoring; patient safety