BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--I-PASS™ Patient Safety Institute, Inc., a provider of a comprehensive set of implementation cloud-based tools supporting the I-PASS package of interventions, today announced that Boston Medical Center selected the company to help standardize its handoff processes. The evidenced-based I-PASS program is proven to reduce communication failures that can lead to harmful medical errors.
“The value of the I-PASS program is unquestionable in terms of improved patient care through reduction in medical errors,” said James Moses MD, MPH, vice president of quality and safety and chief quality officer at Boston Medical Center. “Now, with the I-PASS Patient Safety Institute, we can continue to implement and sustain this important program in a fraction of the time we would spend doing it ourselves and with far fewer resources.”
An estimated 80 percent of the most serious medical errors can be linked to communication failures, particularly during patient handoffs. Handoffs occur at all changes of shift and whenever a patient changes location in a hospital. In a large, multi-center study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, implementation of I-PASS was associated with a 30 percent reduction in medical errors that harm patients. The I-PASS Patient Safety Institute makes it easier to implement the validated I-PASS handoff program to reduce communication failures and ensure safer care for patients. The I-PASS Patient Safety Institute provides hospitals with customized training, expert consultation and cloud-based, technology-enabled tools to facilitate adoption of I-PASS and ensure long-term sustainment.
“Effective and consistent training on an effective handoff process is a requirement by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education to prevent medical errors,” said Jeff Schneider, MD, designated institutional official in graduate medical education at Boston Medical Center. “We feel that the I-PASS Patient Safety Institute will provide the most efficient and effective way for Boston Medical Center to meet those requirements.”
Boston Medical Center has been utilizing the I-PASS program since July 2015 and participated in the studies that evaluated and ultimately, validated the program. The I-PASS Patient Safety Institute will help Boston Medical Center train incoming medical professionals with a standardized process as well as initiate metrics and benchmarking to enhance sustainment. I-PASS Patient Safety Institute was created to help hospitals adopt safer handoff practices across disciplines and units as efficiently and effectively as possible.
“Boston Medical Center is at the forefront of patient safety,” said William Floyd, president and CEO of the I-PASS Patient Safety Institute. “They’ve recognized the value of the I-PASS program in reducing medical errors, and we look forward to partnering with the medical center to further standardize and sustain their program through world-class training and education for the benefit of their patients.”
About the I-PASS Package of Interventions
The I-PASS program is now being successfully used by more than 50 leading hospitals in the US. Provided by the I-PASS Patient Safety Institute, the I-PASS program was developed with real-world expertise by clinicians, for clinicians and includes:
- Certified mentors
- Virtual immersion web-based simulation training tools
- Observational software for benchmarking performance
- I-PASS Electronic health record (EHR) written tool customization
- A cloud-based, customized implementation roadmap for each hospital
About the I-PASS Patient Safety Institute, Inc.
The I-PASS Patient Safety Institute was founded in April 2016, following seven years of research into improving handoffs by a collaborative of researchers, hospitalists, and medical education specialists. The I-PASS Patient Safety Institute works with organizations to create a customized program to ensure adoption and long-term sustainment of I-PASS through training, expert consultation and cloud-based tools. For more information, visit www.ipassinstitute.com.
