March 11, 2016 – Outpatient Safety and Quality

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Anchor lead:  How can safety and quality be assured in an outpatient setting? Elizabeth Tracey reports

Improving patient safety and quality for those in the hospital has been a national focus for some time. Now a new model for assuring both patient safety and quality medical care for outpatients has been developed by Steve Kravet and colleagues at Johns Hopkins. Kravet says while such a strategy is deployed, there are things people choosing where to receive care can consider.

Kravet:  I think reputation is important. People recognize that an organization like Hopkins that does emphasize quality and safety is going to have resources invested in assuring the most important processes around patient safety.  You can observe does the site look clean, does it look cluttered, are they receiving information in consistent and reliable ways? Are people asking their opinion?  Those are ways that patients can understand that the right processes are in place because patient input is one of the most important variables that we look at to assure safety and quality.     :31

At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.