In collaboration with hospitals across the country, please join us in celebrating National Patient Safety Awareness Week.

What is National Patient Safety Awareness Week?
Patient Safety Awareness Week was initially launched in 2002 and is endorsed by the National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF) whose mission is to: improve the safety of patients by identifying and creating a core body of knowledge; identify pathways to apply the knowledge; develop and enhance the culture of receptivity to patient safety; raise public awareness and foster communications about patient safety as well as improve the status of NPSF and its ability to meet its goals. For more information, please visit their website at www.npsf.org.

What Are the Goals for National Patient Safety Awareness Week?
The primary goal of National Patient Safety Awareness Week is to enhance the culture of safety in hospitals by raising awareness with our patients, families, employees and community. It is a great opportunity to promote and enhance positive awareness of patient safety throughout the healthcare network.

HealthSouth is continuing to use "Enhancing a Culture of Safety" as the theme for our 2010 National Patient Safety Awareness Campaign. This focus on safety includes a team approach and involves patients, doctors, nurses, therapists, family members and others who have an impact on patient outcomes.

Safety and quality patient care are our top priorities here every minute of the day and every day of the year. This campaign is an excellent opportunity to recognize the importance of safety in our hospital while also instructing our patients on how to be safe in their own homes. Patients will experience Therapy Group education on topics such as: "What is a safe home environment?" Patient related activities also include: education about how to insure that your healthcare providers optimize safety features in their daily practice.

The week begins with a "KICK OFF BREAKFAST" for Staff on Monday, March 8th. There will also be a mock patient room with several intentional safety issues for staff to partake in discovering which will provide an interactive approach to educating all staff that patient safety is "everyone’s business".

HealthSouth is also introducing "GREAT SAVE" staff recognition program to honor individuals who use safety standards to prevent errors or incidents. The "Great Save" Program has been created to further enhance our culture of safety and encourage staff to report incidents.HealthSouth CEO, Scott Keen summarized the initiative as: "this is a very good program that will help foster the ongoing Patient Safety Culture that HealthSouth embraces."