Abstract:
Learn how technology can play a role in helping health care respond to the issues highlighted in the most recent Institute of Medicine report.
In 1999, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) told us patients weren't safe. In 2000, the Chicago Tribune suggested nursing error was to blame. 1 In 2003, somebody finally explained why-and what to do about it. According to a new IOM report, the problem isn't the nature of nurses, but rather the lack of nurture for nursing. Keeping Patients Safe: Transforming the Work Environment of Nurses calls for a substantial transformation of nurses' work environment to better protect patients from health care errors. 2
As part of a comprehensive plan to reduce problems that threaten patient safety, the report calls for changing how nurse staffing levels are established and placing mandatory limits on nurses' work hours. One of this transformation's key enablers is the very field that brought the need for it to light: information technology (IT).