The Physician's Role in Patient Safety: What's in It for Me?

At Baylor University Medical Center, we have a very active patient safety program. Physicians can benefit from several of the safety, quality, and risk management initiatives—primarily by improving patient outcomes and reducing hassles and wasted time. In this article, I review some issues related to patient safety, medical errors, and features of high-reliability organizations and explain how physicians' efforts in teamwork and communication can improve safety. I also review key National Patient Safety Goals. My objective is to engage physicians in the safety program and help them better understand Baylor's culture and some legal opportunities and barriers that affect us in patient safety.