Burns, J. (2011). Are we finally getting serious about medical errors? Manged Care Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.managedcaremag.com/archives/1105/1105.safety.html#trigger.

The number one cause of injury and death within a hospital setting is medical errors. This is despite the fact that patient-safety is a priority for healthcare executives and planners. Health safety experts offer the following tips as a means of countering the risk of medical errors:

• Create a hospital culture that focuses on patient safety. This includes promoting a safety-orientation to everyone from top-level executives to the day-to-day staff;
• Create a coalition of healthcare organizations to collate data on their best practices and successful safety initiatives and share with other organizations;
• Develop standards for care delivery. This includes simple initiatives such as using checklists and more comprehensive initiatives like teaching staff about evidence-based practices;
• Use established tools that help reduce harm.

While theoretically the creation of a safety oriented healthcare organization should be simple, in reality it requires constant efforts by all participants to ensure that patients receive the best care.