Happy New Year, readers!

• 1/6/2010
• Author: Jim Parker
• Category: Perspectives on Patient Safety Blog
• 11036 Views
• 0 Comments
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This time of year is one of reflection and re-evaluation for many people. This reflection often culminates in a new year’s resolution.  Many of these resolutions deal with health: losing weight, eating healthier, quitting smoking, getting more exercise, getting regular medical and dental check-ups and so forth.  
 
Health care providers also make resolutions, and being who you are, you are concerned not only with your own health but your patients’ health as well. Now, everyone knows most new year’s resolutions fizzle out by March. Indeed, the very concept of these resolutions has become almost a punch line, or a mere marketing tool by which empty health clubs entice wayward members to send in their renewal checks. (“Because you WILL go this year… It’s 2010! Blah. Blah. Blah.”)   So let’s forget these cultural suits and trappings and boil the term down to its core:  resolve.
 
According to Webster’s, resolve means “to reach a firm decision about” and “fixity of purpose.”  The word resolve invokes a sense of commitment and determination.
 
I propose that we in the patient safety community collectively resolve to recommit ourselves to preserving and improving the safety and well being of all patients.
 
This commitment can manifest itself in as many ways as there are providers and patients. It could mean doing your part to ensure your organization complies with National Patient Safety Goals.  For leaders, it could involve a re-examination of your entire organization’s safety culture. For a frontline provider, it could mean cultivating and expressing renewed empathy for the human beings who are your patients.
 
For me, this resolution means finding ways to enhance the patient safety information we send to you every month. It means creating a communal space in this blog where you can express your views and participate in discussion of all things patient safety. It means meeting and talking with you when opportunities present themselves at JCR conferences and other events. It means inviting professionals in the field to submit articles and case studies and to share their experiences with their colleagues nationwide.
 
Who’s with me?  In what ways will you personally commit to improving patient safety this year?