Medical harm and preventable medical errors

Preventable medical errors in hospitals exceed deaths from car accidents, breast cancer, and AIDS.

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) estimates that nearly 15 million instances of medical harm occur in the United States each year.  

Source: Protecting 5 Million Lives from Harm, by Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI)

Source: To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System, Washington, DC: National Academy Press; 1999, p. 26.

IHI launches new Improvement Map tool

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement has launched the Improvement Map, a new free, online tool to assist hospitals to improve hospital quality, organize improvement efforts, and get the information they need to get started. As of September 2009, the Improvement Map contains 70 patient care and organizational processes that both experience and evidence suggest will lead to better outcomes.

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