A Patient Safety Handbook for Ambulatory Health Care

Ambulatory care organizations are challenged by medication safety, infection prevention and control, environment of care, communication, and other patient safety issues; however, most available benchmarks and initiatives concerning patient safety were developed specifically for hospitals and do not translate easily to ambulatory care settings. Ambulatory surgical centers, office-based surgery practices, community health centers, diagnostic imaging centers, urgent care centers, medical and dental centers, and other ambulatory care facilities face critical and unique patient safety issues on a daily basis. A Patient Safety Handbook for Ambulatory Health Care provides proven solutions for keeping patients safe in an ambulatory setting and addresses challenging patient safety concerns. The book explores seven system-level issues: patient-centered care, communication, medication use, surgical safety, infection prevention and control, environment and equipment, and staff education and training