The National Patient Safety Goals (NPSG), developed by The Joint Commission, provide a vital framework for healthcare facilities to focus on emerging safety concerns. These goals, set annually, are tailored to multiple care settings, including ambulatory, assisted living, behavioral health, critical access, hospitals, home care, and more. Reaching your National Patient Safety Goals helps guide healthcare leaders in improving key areas such as:
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.
The strategies and methods healthcare facilities use to meet these annual goals contribute to long-term safety improvements. In this blog, we’ll share tips to reach your National Patient Safety Goals, helping you exceed expectations and foster a safer, 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. To reach your National Patient Safety Goals, start by establishing a clear understanding of your organization’s current strengths and weaknesses.
The Joint Commission recommends reviewing patient safety events and conducting root cause analyses as you prepare for your survey window. It’s equally important to evaluate any newly implemented processes. Are these processes functioning as expected, and will they demonstrate compliance with safety standards?
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. To harness this knowledge, 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 and timely data you have, the sooner and more accurately you can address safety issues or concerns. Thus, to reach your National Patient Safety Goals, it’s crucial that your frontline staff feels empowered to communicate safety events without fear of punitive measures or retribution. Fostering 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 encouraging good catch reporting, you empower your team to recognize and act on potential risks, leading to fewer missed opportunities for preventing harm.
As you foster this stronger reporting culture, you’ll collect more meaningful data to make effective changes to flawed processes, especially in areas emphasized by the NPSGs. For additional resources on creating a safer environment, explore our patient safety event reporting guide.
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.
For tools to help build a more high reliability organization, explore our free resources on becoming an HRO.
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 NPSG priorities, support data collection to track performance, and are well-informed about the strategies necessary for addressing gaps.
To guide 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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