FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 8, 1999
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Joan Meehan-Hurwitz, 202-651-7020
Dawn Marks, 202-651-7198
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ANA Applauds White House for Steps to Reduce Medical Errors
Calls for closer examination of impact of staffing on errors
WASHINGTON, DC - The American Nurses Association (ANA) applauded swift actions by the Clinton Administration in response to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report that details the high human and economic cost of medical errors and calls for system-wide changes to address the problem.
ANA First Vice President Mary Foley, MS, RN, joined leaders of the IOM and national health care organizations for the announcement yesterday at the White House. "We applaud the president for taking concrete steps to respond to the challenge laid out in the IOM report -- to address the systems issues that often result in medical errors." said Foley.
The ANA agrees with the IOM report's assertion that the majority of errors result not from human recklessness but from failures in the health care system and believes the report reinforces the need to address all systems issues, including staffing.
"Nurses are the quality and safety monitors," said Foley. "We worry about systems that put providers and patients at risk. That's why we're asking the White House to include staffing as one of the key factors to consider when addressing errors in health care. No system can succeed, no matter how brilliant, if there aren't qualified staff to implement it."
In 1994, ANA launched its Safety & Quality Initiative to investigate the impact of health care restructuring on the safety and quality of patient care and the nurses who provide that care. Central to this initiative is the development of Nursing Quality Indicators, the Nursing Report Card for Acute Care and the National Database of Nursing-Sensitive Quality Indicators.
"ANA has been developing a national quality indicator database," explained Foley. " Hospitals are submitting data to help them do a better job in making decisions about nurse staffing and patient care. We believe this data is critical to informed decision-making and that it must be made available to decision-makers and health care consumers."
Several surveys of nurses during the past few years reveal that medication errors often result when there is inappropriate staffing. Inappropriate staffing may mean too few registered nurses, lack of appropriate training or orientation for an RN assigned to the unit or inappropriate use of unlicensed personnel.
"We are working to increase hospitals' awareness of and participation in the national database of nursing-sensitive quality indicators," said Foley. "By working together, we can further document the link between nurse staffing and patient outcomes in order to make informed, data-driven decisions."
The IOM report reinforces ANA and other organizations' ongoing work to pursue strategies that protect patients from preventable errors and that move organizations away from the traditional "search and destroy" missions that frequently follow serious health care errors. In addition to its own Safety and Quality Initiative, ANA participated in the President's Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry, is a founding member of the National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Prevention, and is actively involved in the American Medical Association's National Patient Safety Foundation and the Veterans Administration National Patient Safety Partnership.
In addition, ANA's 1998 House of Delegates approved an action report - "Shared Accountability In Today's Work Environment" - that outlines a series of activities to address concerns about a health care system that has resulted in increasing patient injury and public skepticism, and punitive action against nurses and other health care providers for circumstances over which they have very little control.
Institute of Medicine (IOM) reportANA Commends Institute of Medicine for Medical Errors Report
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ANA is the only full-service professional organization representing the nation's 2.6 million registered nurses through its 53 constituent associations. ANA advances the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying Congress and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.
1999 press releases
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