THE SENATE

S.C.R. NO.

75

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2002

S.D. 1

STATE OF HAWAII

  
   

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

REQUESTING A REPORT BY THE PATIENT SAFETY TASK FORCE OF THE HEALTHCARE ASSOCIATION OF HAWAII.

 

WHEREAS, the Institute of Medicine issued a report on medical errors in December, 1999, which estimated that up to 98,000 hospitalized Americans die each year as a result of medical errors; and

WHEREAS, although a subsequent study by the VA Center for Practice Management and Outcomes Research found flaws in previous studies and revised the estimate downward to somewhere between 5,000 and 15,000 deaths annually due to errors, this rate is still too high; and

WHEREAS, there have been many efforts in health care organizations throughout the country to reduce the incidence of errors; and

WHEREAS, health care organizations are complex, so systems, policies, and procedures must be changed; and

WHEREAS, a reduction in medical errors will depend not so much on a punitive approach to identifying and blaming individuals, which will result in errors being kept secret, as on creating a collaborative atmosphere in which people are willing to discuss problems with the intent of developing solutions that will prevent errors in the future; and

WHEREAS, after the Institute of Medicine issued its report, the Healthcare Association of Hawaii convened a Patient Safety Task Force consisting of representatives of its member organizations to address the issue of medical errors; and

WHEREAS, the Patient Safety Task Force, which has been meeting twice a month, has established the following objectives for itself: (1) develop a plan for the identification, analyses, and evaluation of factors that affect patient safety, (2) identify and recommend the utilization of best practices to improve the delivery and quality of health care, and (3) promote community awareness through education and advocacy; and

WHEREAS, the fulfillment of these objectives will result in more efficient models of care, delivered by a more knowledgeable workforce that fully understands the significance of its role in safeguarding patients, reducing medical efforts, and improving patient care outcomes; and

WHEREAS, not only are health care organizations interested in patient safety, but the public has justifiably expressed an interest in this subject to individual Legislators, and providers would like to inform the public about their efforts to reduce medical errors; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-First Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2002, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Patient Safety Task Force of the Healthcare Association of Hawaii is requested to submit a report of its efforts to reduce medical errors, no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2003; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Health and the President and CEO of the Healthcare Association of Hawaii, who is requested to transmit it to the Chair of the Patient Safety Task Force.

 
     

 

Report Title:

PATIENT SAFETY TASK FORCE; HEALTHCARE ASSOCIATION OF HAWAII