WASHINGTON, D.C. – As the administration today unveiled the recommendations of a special White House task force on patient safety, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Togo D. West Jr. noted that the veterans agency launched a multi-faceted initiative on patient safety three years ago.
Our veterans have earned the best and safest care that this nation can provide, West said. At VA, we’re committed to an unending search to provide better health care for more veterans.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) operates the largest health-care system in the nation, with care at more than 1,200 sites, including 172 medical centers and more than 600 outpatient clinics. VA is a recognized leader in such specialties as spinal cord injuries, prosthetics, blind rehabilitation and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
In 1997, VA began a public-private partnership with eight health-care organizations (now 13) to address the issue of patient safety. The next year, VA created its own National Center for Patient Safety to oversee a wide range of programs that bring safety concerns and new procedures into VA’s health-care system.
We’re working to create a culture of safety within VA, said Dr. Thomas L. Garthwaite, VA’s deputy under secretary for health. To improve patient safety, we must have attitudes, values and processes that encourage the honest reporting of adverse events. We must use the best analytical techniques available to understand why adverse events happen and how we can reduce them.
Among VA’s innovations are bar-coding for medication and blood transfusions, as well as computerized patient records. At a pilot site, bar-coding has already reduced medication errors by two-thirds. By July 1, bar-coding will be used in all VA health-care facilities.
From 1999 through 2001, VA will spend nearly $650 million on patient safety. That budget will finance Patient Safety Centers of Inquiry, the bar-coding initiative, the computerization of patient records, a national patient safety reporting system, education and research activities and a host of other programs.
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Reporters and media outlets with questions or comments should contact the Office of Media Relations at vapublicaffairs@va.gov
Veterans with questions about their health care and benefits (including GI Bill). Questions, updates and documents can be submitted online.
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