Patient Safety

From the Publisher

“This is a superb book. I can strongly recommend it to all doctors, to medical students, to other clinical staff and to managers who have to try and make sense of the chaotic complexity of healthcare. The author's expertise is demonstrated throughout, and his examples are drawn from UK, American, European healthcare systems, with appropriate comparison across to other industries where they are useful.” (Dr. Nicholas P. G. Davies (Halifax, UK) posted January 1, 2011)

"This book is a tremendous asset in advancing the field of patient safety. The book is well-referenced and current and provides a comprehensive yet very readable summary of patient safety. It will serve well anyone who is involved in patient care. In describing this book, the words, "expert", "indispensable", and "worthwhile" come to mind. This is a significant update of the previous edition." (Doody's, 7 October 2011)

"The sections on ‘designing out' hospital acquired infection are helpful for infection control staff and architects. Prescribers and pharmacists benefit from seeing how IT can reduce medication errors". (ENT & Audiology News, 1 July 2011)"This book is an outstanding comprehensive overview an summary of the key issues relating to patient safety, as one might hope and expect from one of the leading international experts and researchers in this field." (Casebook, 1 May 2011)

"I would recommend this book to all occupational health professionals working in health care, particularly those who sit on clinical risk, infection prevention control or health and safety committees." (Occupational Medicine, 4 June 2011)

"This book is highly recommended or anyone in health care with an interest in patient safety. Every practitioner will get something from it." (The Association For Perioperative Practice, 1 March 2011)

"This book is directed to those involved in health care and patient safety. It can be used in the classroom setting to illustrate human error and correction methods to provide a safer patient experience. In the institutional setting, this text would be a useful addition to the medical library, as well as personal libraries of physicians, pharmacists, nurses, or other health-care providers interested in patient safety."

(The Journal of Pharmacy Technology, 1 March 2011)"This book is essential reading for everyone in health care, but in particular it is a must read for those starting out, training to be the future doctors, nurses, managers and other health-care practitioners." (British Journal of Hospital Medicine, 1 January 2011)

From The Critics

Reviewer: Henry S. Park, M.D.(James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital)
Description: This book may be divided into two main parts. The first part examines the history and evolution of the field of patient safety, the methods of understanding error and adverse events, why and how errors and accidents happen, and the impact of errors and harm on the people involved, including the healthcare providers. The second part reviews practices and interventions designed to reduce error and the components of building a culture of safety within a high-performing healthcare system. The prior edition was published in 2006.
Purpose: The main purposes are to convince readers that patient safety is the foundation of healthcare quality and outstanding patient care; provide a comprehensive and clear overview of the field of patient safety; demonstrate that many of the important topics in patient safety are being studied in other disciplines, such as cognitive psychology and ergonomics; and explain the challenges and difficulties of solving patient safety issues within the framework of a complex healthcare system. These ambitious objectives are met by the author.
Audience: Written for a broad audience that includes students, residents, and practitioners, the book is most appropriate for those practicing in a hospital setting (surgery, anesthesia, and internal and emergency medicine). The author is an internationally recognized expert in the field of patient safety.
Features: The book covers the history of patient safety and how safety is but one dimension of quality, albeit the "first dimension of quality." It reviews the reporting systems for healthcare hazards and how safety is measured. The book emphasizes the inevitability of human error and the overriding importance of systems thinking. Subsequent chapters focus on caring for the patients, their families, and staff after incidents of patient harm. Later chapters review process improvements and clinical interventions and technology designed for improved patient safety. Creating a culture of patient safety especially in the setting of teams will help lead healthcare systems to become "high reliability organizations." I found the chapter on creating a culture of safety (chapter 14) educational, yet humbling, as we in healthcare strive to form high reliability organizations. In the journey to becoming a safer organization, we have realized the importance of systems and patient safety, but we have so much more to learn in terms of better teamwork and communication (chapter 18) and delivering patient-centered care (chapter 15). The best features of the book are the boxes, figures, and tables that highlight crucial information. The in-depth reviews of actual cases are outstanding. The chapter references are excellent, current, and relevant. There are a few shortcomings — the lack of color in the charts and graphs and lack of clinically relevant images or photographs. The text font could have been slightly larger for better readability.
Assessment: This book is a tremendous asset in advancing the field of patient safety. It is well-referenced and current and provides a comprehensive yet very readable summary of patient safety. It will serve well anyone who is involved in patient care. In describing this book, the words, "expert", "indispensable", and "worthwhile" come to mind. This is a significant update of the previous edition.