How does Women & Infants ensure my safety while I’m a patient there?

Safety is a big priority at Women & Infants and many processes have been put into place to support that priority. Prior to any medication administration or procedure, we always verify that we have the right patient by checking their hospital identification against our own records. We encourage our staff to report errors or what we call “near misses,” instances in which an error could have easily occurred. These reports go to senior level management and we make decisions to prevent errors in the future. Any difficult or unexpected outcome in the hospital triggers a review of the patient’s chart by experienced clinicians to see if there was anything that could have been done to prevent the error. We also audit all charts periodically to see if there are any areas of potential improvement. Safety data is reported to senior level managers and the Board of Trustees, which holds us accountable for ensuring this is a safe place.