Skip to main content

Military Health System

Test of Sitewide Banner

This is a test of the sitewide banner capability. In the case of an emergency, site visitors would be able to visit the news page for addition information.

Patient Safety Awareness Week 2021 Highlights Role of Technology

Image of A graphic with the words "Patient Safety Awareness Week 2021 March 14-20. Patient Safety Awareness Week 2021 aims to highlight the role of technology in patient safety (Courtesy of the DOD’s Patient Safety Awareness Program for Medical Affairs).

The Military Health System will once again join the annual national Patient Safety Awareness Week education campaign to bring awareness to health care safety and promote patient safety practices.

The theme for this year's campaign, March 14-20, will focus on the role technology plays in promoting patient safety across MHS.

"We focus on ensuring ready reliable care for every patient, every time, and are always seeking ways to improve our health care delivery system - establishing processes and optimizing technologies to provide products, services, educational opportunities, and training resources to health care leadership, health care professionals, staff and beneficiaries," said Heidi King, chief of the Defense Health Agency's Patient Safety Program for Medical Affairs.

This includes web-based reporting tools to record and analyze data and create alerts and advisories that are swiftly disseminated to the MHS, standardized practices across the military services, and more rapid responses to ensure the safe delivery of immunizations and monitor infection control, she added.

With patients at the heart of its mission, the Department of Defense's Patient Safety Program aims to engage, educate, and equip patient care teams to implement evidence-based safe practices across MHS, thereby eliminating preventable patient harm. It relies not only on health care professionals but also non-clinical staff, patients, and families who have an important role in promoting a culture of safety for patients and ensuring the safe delivery of health care to 9.6 million MHS beneficiaries.

"Patient engagement is key, and the relationship between providers and patients and their families leads to safer care," said King.

MHS focuses on providing ready reliable care for patients while keeping them safe from harm in each patient encounter at all military hospitals, clinics, and military medical treatment facilities around the world. Using an evidence-based systems approach to create a safer patient environment, PSP engages MHS leadership on the importance of patient safety to establish a supportive organizational culture and promote collaboration across all services by fostering trust, transparency, teamwork, and communication.

"Leaders at every level and all staff help drive high reliability forward to achieve zero preventable harm on behalf of our beneficiaries," said King. "Through leadership support, diligent practice, ongoing training and coaching, the teamwork system is an integral component of our culture."

The DOD PSP also collaborates with federal agencies, including the Agency for Health Care Research & Quality, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Department of Veterans Affairs, and Food & Drug Administration. It also collaborates with non-governmental organizations to work toward a culture of safety at the military and national health care systems.

Using technology, the PSP offers health care providers tools for assessment, training, coaching, and skill-building for team-based care.

"For PSAW 2021, we are highlighting technology's role in patient safety through enterprise-wide processes, technology, and training," said King.

2021 PSAW

To highlight technology's role in patient safety, the 2021 PSAW will include a series of webinars between March 9 and April 8 about topics related to patient safety, leadership commitment, culture of safety, continuous process improvement, and patient centeredness. These will feature the recipients of the 2020 Advancement toward High Reliability in Health Care Awards, and MHS participants can register online.

Likewise, MHS MTFs will take part in PSAW by hosting local events to draw awareness about the importance of safe patient practices by engaging, educating, and equipping patient-care teams within their own organizations as part of the journey toward safe care and ending preventable patient harm.

"Previous PSAW events showcased health professionals' creativity, including process improvement fairs that displayed workplace efforts in addressing patient safety concerns and hosting contests to find all the patient safety problems lurking in a 'Room of Horrors,;" said Navy Capt. Mary Parker, PSP clinical affairs specialist.

"My favorite, though, is the Escape Room that uses puzzles to complete a patient safety mission," she said. "Because patient safety is everyone's responsibility, events like these are fantastic opportunities for junior officers and enlisted staff to work on — everyone can contribute to Patient Safety Awareness Week."

You also may be interested in...

RRC Safety Communication Bundle Flyer

Technical Document
11/4/2021

The RRC Safety Communication Bundle is a set of six standardized communication Practices designed to increase leadership engagement, improve communication and teamwork, and reduce burnout with the goal of reducing preventable harm.

Patient Safety Champion Nomination Form 2018

Technical Document
3/15/2018

The Patient Safety Champion Certificate of Recognition is a peer to-peer recognition program led by the DoD Patient Safety Program. This program gives Military Health System staff an opportunity to recognize peers for their patient safety efforts within their local military treatment facility.

2018 High Reliability Awards Application Guidance

Technical Document
3/14/2018

Long Range Technical Architecture Strategy Accessible Version

Technical Document
7/28/2016

The Long Range Technical Architecture (LRTA) Strategy is a dynamic technology investment roadmap to help guide and optimize the MHS’ investments over the next decade, based on data-driven analyses. The LRTA links business needs to technical solutions and provides enterprise 'knowledge' through data democratization.

ASD HA Patient Safety Survey Memo

Technical Document
2/29/2016

Memo from Dr. Jonathan Woodson, Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs), encouraging participation in the Patient Safety Culture Survey.

PIM TeamSTEPPS CE Process Timeline

Technical Document
4/22/2015

Document highlights the updated process timeline for course coordinators and participants to receive Continuing Education (CE) credits post-course facilitation of the TeamSTEPPS curriculum. This process has been udpated due to a recent transition to Postgraduate Institute for Medicine (PIM) accreditation for the curriculum.

TeamSTEPPS Course Coordinator PIM

Technical Document
4/22/2015

Document highlighting the roles and responsibilities of all TeamSTEPPS Course Coordinators, responsible for facilitating training utilizing the DoD Patient Safety Program's TeamSTEPPS curriculum.

TeamSTEPPS Train the Trainer Agenda Example

Technical Document
4/22/2015

Example of a TeamSTEPPS Train the Trainer two day course agenda. TeamSTEPPS Course Coordinators should utilize this example to submit a course request to the DoD Patient Safety Program. This is a requirement to receive accreditation approval for each course from the Postgraduate Institute for Medicine (PIM).

DoD PSP ORC Instructor Profile

Technical Document
4/22/2015

Document outlines the steps for course coordinators and instructors of the DoD Patient Safety Program (PSP) safety training curriculum TeamSTEPPS, to access their instructor profile in the Online Registration Center (ORC). Included in these steps is an overview of the instructor's responsibilities post-course in the ORC to ensure participants receive Continuing Education (CE) credits for course completion.

TeamSTEPPS Train the Staff Agenda PM Example

Technical Document
4/22/2015

Example of a TeamSTEPPS Train the Staff course agenda for an PM session. TeamSTEPPS Course Coordinators should utilize this example to submit a course request to the DoD Patient Safety Program. This is a requirement to receive accreditation approval for each course from the Postgraduate Institute for Medicine (PIM).

TeamSTEPPS Train the Staff Agenda AM Example

Technical Document
4/22/2015

Example of a TeamSTEPPS Train the Staff course agenda for an AM session. TeamSTEPPS Course Coordinators should utilize this example to submit a course requests to the DoD Patient Safety Program. This is a requirement to receive accreditation approval for each course from the Postgraduate Institute for Medicine (PIM).

Patient Safety Order Materials FAQs

Technical Document
12/17/2014

This DoD Patient Safety Program document outlines the frequently asked questions in reference to ordering patient safety materials from the Patient Safety portion of the Health.mil website. The document includes vital contact information for assistance and account registration information.

Sustainment Guide for Reducing Harm Associated with Patient Falls

Technical Document
4/2/2014

This Falls Sustainment Guide supports the 2012 - 2013 Military Health System (MHS) Partnership for Patients initiative to improve the quality and safety of health care in all Department of Defense (DoD) Medical Treatment Facilities (MTF). The purpose of this Falls Sustainment Guide is to provide the tools and resources to ensure a reduction in falls and harm from falls at your Military Treatment facility (MTF).

Implementation Guide for Readmissions

Technical Document
2/13/2014

The Readmissions Implementation Guide is one of 10 harm-specific guides designed to assist you as you implement identified evidence-based practices to improve patient care.

Implementation Guide for Falls

Technical Document
2/11/2014

The Falls Implementation Guide was created to support the Partnership for Patients, a national initiative sponsored by the Department of Health and Human Services to reduce harm in health care facilities.

Page 1 of 2 , showing items 1 - 15
First < 1 2 > Last 
Refine your search
Last Updated: December 28, 2022
Follow us on Instagram Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Follow us on YouTube Sign up on GovDelivery