National Patient Safety Goals (NPSG) are set by The Joint Commission annually to ensure healthcare facilities focus on emerging safety concerns. These goals are tailored to multiple care settings, including Ambulatory, Assisted Living, Behavioral Health, Critical Access, Hospitals, Home Care, and more. NPSGs are intended to guide healthcare leaders in improving care related to:
The National Patient Safety Goals (NPSG) were developed in collaboration with a range of healthcare experts and designed to help healthcare facilities measure, assess, and improve their safety performance. The list is evaluated annually to recognize the ever-changing and dynamic nature of the patient safety landscape. With that in mind, initiating continuous quality improvement is essential for minimizing patient risk and preventing avoidable harm. NPSGs help facilities focus on implementing standardized procedures and highlight the necessary tools to support their busy medical staff, including doctors, nurses, and pharmacists.
Moreover, the behaviors and methods that healthcare facilities adopt to meet these annual goals are enduring and can contribute to a sustained culture of safety over time. In this blog, we’ll share tips to help you meet and exceed the National Patient Safety Goals. Continue reading to discover how you can help create a safer and more equitable environment for patients and staff.
The National Patient Safety Goals aren’t just a checklist. They serve as a framework for continuous improvement. Thus, the process should begin with a baseline understanding of your organization’s current strengths and weaknesses.
The Joint Commission recommends reviewing patient safety events and root cause analyses in anticipation of your survey window. Likewise, you should review any new processes that were implemented in response. Are they functioning effectively, and will they hold up as evidence of standards compliance?
The more data you have at your disposal, the easier it will be to understand what is working and what processes need to change. No one is more knowledgeable about the realities of the safety landscape at your facility than your frontline staff. Consider implementing a robust Survey on Patient Safety Culture and putting the results to work.
Data is the foundation for actionable change. The more specific, timely data you have, the sooner and more accurately you can address safety issues or concerns. Thus, your frontline staff must feel empowered to communicate safety events without fear of punitive measures or retribution. As an added benefit, this cultural shift creates a sense of psychological safety for members of your care team, reducing burnout and improving the efficacy of care.
One of the most effective ways to destigmatize safety event reporting is by implementing a Good Catch Program. In essence, this is a campaign that rewards staff for making a “good catch” and reporting the details of the near miss or close call. Near misses are often precursors to incidents or patient harm events. In fact, studies suggest that for every adverse event reported, there are between 3 and 300 near misses. By increasing good catch reporting, your team will be able to recognize otherwise lost opportunities to prevent incidents. Slowly but surely, a stronger reporting culture will emerge and you’ll have the data you need to make effective changes to flawed processes, including many involving the priority areas underscored in the NPSGs.
Every member of your staff has a set of core competencies that make them uniquely qualified to do a specific job well. While reviewing the updated National Patient Safety Goals, ensure you are engaging Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) early and continuously to ensure real-world perspectives are included in the planning, implementation, and ongoing evaluation phases.
The Joint Commission recommends appointing a regulatory or accreditation leader who is responsible for the overall effort and is adept at interpreting the standards. This person can “help facilitate compliance and education around standards and elements of performance through such tools as staff education, newsletters, bulletin boards, audits, and tracers.” The SMEs role will be to serve as the face of the resulting improvement initiatives for leaders, clinicians, and staff throughout the facility.
Consider tapping your data abstractors as SMEs to address NPSGs. Abstractors often possess a deep understanding of your clinical data and patient outcomes, making them invaluable in identifying areas in need of improvement. By leveraging their intimate knowledge and familiarity with your internal processes, you can enhance your facility’s ability to pinpoint opportunities and design best-fit action plans. This strategic repurposing of staff not only maximizes the skills of your current team but also fosters a culture of continuous improvement and high reliability within your organization.
Achieving the National Patient Safety Goals relies heavily on a culture of continuous improvement, which is deeply rooted in ongoing education. It’s essential that all staff members, from frontline workers to administrators, understand the priorities, support data collection to track performance, and are well-informed about the strategies necessary for addressing gaps.
To inform improvement strategies, leverage your data to identify specific training needs and tailor educational programs accordingly. For example, if data shows a trend in medication labeling errors, focus refresher courses on best practices in labeling protocols. Engage your SMEs to lead these training sessions, ensuring that staff receive instruction from those most knowledgeable and passionate about the topics.
The Joint Commission offers a range of resources, including free materials, to help with these educational initiatives. Another resource facilities can use to incorporate NPSGs into their daily work is PSNet’s Safer Together: A National Action Plan to Advance Patient Safety. By prioritizing continuous education, you ensure that your staff is always prepared to meet current safety standards, thus fostering an environment of high reliability and excellence in patient care.
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