Improving Patient Safety in Rural Hospitals: A Workshop With Wisconsin Health Care Leaders. Workshop Summary Report

摘要

The Employer Health Care Alliance Cooperative (The Alliance) sponsored a workshop entitled Improving Patient Safety in Rural Hospitals: A Workshop with Wisconsin Health Care Leaders on October 22-23, 2001 in Madison, Wisconsin. The workshop was supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality User Liaison Program. The purpose of this workshop was to allow a diverse group of stakeholders to discuss the research evidence related to certain patient safety interventions, explore their own goals and concerns related to changing the current systems, and brainstorm potential patient safety standards that they could view as feasible and measurable. Participants explored issues related to improving patient safety in rural community hospitals in Wisconsin, including hospital and health system administrators, physicians, employers, State officials, and health services researchers. The group discussed relevant research findings, implementation issues, and both advantages and obstacles that rural community hospitals encounter in reducing medical errors. Participants also considered potential roles that regional and statewide organizations could play to support patient safety initiatives in rural facilities.