This is another great example that demonstrates the total absence of a silver bullet for realizing patient safety improvements (or patient flow improvements).

“The trick is not to talk about safety but to incorporate it into our daily lives,” said Scott Jones, M.D., professor of surgery at UVMC. Described at the executive briefing by Jones and UVMC President and CEO Edward Howell, the program involves collecting data submitted by specially trained nurses to measure risk as determined by a database of preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative variables. “If you prevent one bad case the program pays for itself,” said Howell of the $35,000 participation fee.