Ensuring Patient Safety

Building on ongoing efforts to ensure patients are provided with a safe environment of care, CUIMC has also developed a series of new patient safety policies and programs. The foundation of the work is the expansion of channels for patients and staff to report physician misconduct, complemented by investments in chaperone training and other safety systems. In addition, CUIMC is committed to three significant new quality and patient safety (QPS) initiatives:

• working with outside experts to provide transparent assessments of our patient quality and safety programs and procedures;
• investing in predictive analytics for identifying high-risk behavior by faculty and staff, so that timely intervention can prevent harm from occurring; and
• creating a new Center for Patient Safety Science to conduct the research that will define the future of quality and patient safety at Columbia and across the country.