We are fortunate to live in a country that undeniably has one of the finest healthcare systems in the world. We offer the most innovative procedures and groundbreaking care - people from around the globe look to our nurses and doctors for new hope and medical miracles. Nevertheless, a topic that seems to be on everyone's mind these days is patient safety.

You can't switch a TV channel or turn a page in a newspaper without seeing something about medication and healthcare errors. According to data collected by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), nearly 15 million instances of medical harm occur in the U.S. each year - a rate of over 40,000 per day. And according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, more people die in a given year as a result of medical errors than from auto accidents, breast cancer, or AIDS. But however negative this all seems, one positive has emerged from these statistics: patient safety is now a growing priority across all realms of healthcare services.

National organizations are working together to bring awareness to the importance of patient safety. The National Patient Safety Foundation instituted National Patient Safety Awareness Week, March 2 to March 8, 2008. IHI has started a new campaign called “Protecting 5 Million Lives from Harm.” The goal of this initiative is to protect patients from 5 million incidents of medical harm over the next two years and to enlist at least 4,000 hospitals in a commitment to improve patient safety even faster than before. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) launched an effort focused on assessing and improving the nation's quality of care in 1996 and it is now in its third phase.

Studies are being conducted in support of supplemental staffing and its effects on quality of care, such as the recent study performed by Dr. Linda H. Aiken at the University of Pennsylvania. The Joint Commission has also established annual national patient safety goals and initiatives for all of its accreditation and certification programs. This is the start of a movement that needs to be far-reaching and influential.

To keep patient safety and reducing medical errors a priority, every healthcare facility and every healthcare staffing firm must do their part. At Cross Country Staffing, we are working hard to ensure that the staffing industry becomes involved and makes a positive impact. We are one of 33 diverse healthcare organizations and delivery systems represented in the HRET Patient Safety Leadership Fellowship. This is a development program focused on improvements in patient safety. We are also one of the few staffing firms that have a competency model that is consistent with and parallel to that of healthcare facilities. Furthermore, Cross Country Staffing has launched The Center for Patient Safety to promote collaborative patient safety initiatives with client facilities.

Ultimately, what needs to be realized is that patient safety is a responsibility that reaches far beyond the hospital level. State and government programs and initiatives are being developed to reward quality performance and penalize poor treatment. Continued improvement in patient safety is within reach if we establish trust, honesty, integrity and open communication between all parties - patients, clinicians and healthcare facilities.