Patient Safety Improvement Corps

An AHRQ/VA Partnership

The Patient Safety Improvement Corps seeks to improve patient safety by providing knowledge and skills to teams of State field staff and hospital partners selected by States. Eligible field staff include patient safety officers and those responsible for patient safety reporting and analysis as well as intervention initiatives.

Background

The Patient Safety Improvement Corps (PSIC) is a partnership program of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and Veterans Administration (VA) with the primary goal of improving patient safety by providing the knowledge and skills necessary to:

• Conduct effective investigations of reports of medical errors (e.g. close calls, errors with and without patient injury) by identifying their root causes with an emphasis on underlying system causes.
• Prepare meaningful reports on the findings.
• Develop and implement sustainable system interventions based on report findings.
• Measure and evaluate the impact of the safety intervention (i.e., that will mitigate, reduce, or eliminate the opportunity for error and patient injury).
• Ensure the sustainability of effective safety interventions by transforming them into standard clinical practice.

Eligibility

Participants eligible for this program are teams of State staff in the field (e.g., patient safety officers or those responsible for patient safety reporting and analysis as well as intervention initiatives) and the State's selected hospital partners.

Dates and Place

Each annual PSIC program consists of three 1-week sessions—1 week each in September, January, and May. In addition, there will be course-related team "homework" during the year (e.g., participation in a Root Cause Analysis and completion of a patient safety project of the team's choice).

The 2005-06 annual program will begin in September 2005 and end in May 2006. Sixty participants (approximately 18 to 20 teams) will be accepted into the 2005-06 program. The first and third week of the 2005-06 PSIC programs will be held in the Washington, DC, area while the location of the programs' second week will be held in a location to be determined at a later date.

Participants

More than 50 participants representing 15 States completed the PSIC program in 2003-04. Go to: 2003 Patient Safety Improvement Corps Participants.

The 2004-05 annual program began September 21, 2004, and will end in May 2005, with 21 States participating. Go to: 2004 Patient Safety Improvement Corps Participants.

Costs

The PSIC program is tuition free. Teams selected to participate will be reimbursed for air fare, lodging, per diem, and local travel costs following the completion of each 1-week session and within approximately 1 month of submission of a completed travel voucher.

Application Requirements

Applicants

Only States may submit applications, but the State applications may include up to two hospital partners as selected by the State (for a total of four participants, maximum, per State). If the team is two members, it may be two State staff or one State staff and the State's one selected hospital partner. If the team is three members, two must be from the State and one may be the State's single selected hospital partner. If the team is four members, two must be from the State and two must be the State's selected hospital partners. In no case shall the team consist of less State members than State-selected hospital partner members. Preference will be given to teams of four members. Preference will also be given to State applicants that have not already participated in the PSIC program.

Notification of Intent to Submit an Application

Notification via E-mail is requested no later than June 30, 2005. The E-mail should be addressed to Caryl Lee (Caryl.Lee@med.va.gov), Tina Nudell (Tina.Nudell@med.va.gov), and Marge Keyes (MKeyes@ahrq.gov).

Inquiries

To ask questions via phone or E-mail, contact Caryl Lee or Tina Nudell by phone at (734) 930-5890 or by E-mail at Caryl.Lee@med.va.gov and Tina.Nudell@med.va.gov.

Application Copies

Four copies must be received no later than July 30, 2005:

• Two copies of the application must be sent to: Caryl Lee, Program Manager; VA National Center for Patient Safety, 24 Frank Lloyd Wright Drive, Lobby M, PO Box 486, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-0486.
• Two copies of the application must be sent to: Marge Keyes, Patient Safety Team Leader, Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 540 Gaither Road, Rockville, MD 20850.

Application Page Limits

The application must be no longer than six pages double spaced (excluding appendices) and shall be submitted together by State applicants and their selected hospital partners.

Application Content and Order of Presentation

The application shall include the following and be presented in this order:

1. A short cover letter from the applicant team with the official single point-of-contact identified including full name, address, phone number, fax number, and E-mail address.
2. Section 1: No more than a three-page double spaced, concisely written description of the team and what they individually and as a team want to accomplish through participation in the training (e.g., individual objectives and team objectives to be achieved through participation in the program).
3. Section 2: No more than a three-page double spaced, concisely written identification of and justification for up to two potential patient safety improvement projects that may be undertaken as part of this program.
4. Section 3: Appendixes must include:

• A one- or two-page resume/CV for each person participating in the team training reflecting educational levels achieved and current position description with an emphasis on patient safety/reporting responsibilities if such experience exists.
• A letter of endorsement and support from each CEO of the participant's employer organization(s) applying for the training that must include the name of the potential participant(s); the CEO's endorsement of participation in the complete training program, the CEO's authorization for release time for participation in the complete program, related conference calls, and the AHRQ conference; the CEO's endorsement of and support for the selected patient safety improvement project(s) to be completed by the team, the CEO's willingness to participate in a conference call once during the course of the training; and the CEO's willingness to evaluate the utility of the training to his/her participant and their home organization.

Current as of October 2004

Internet Citation:

Patient Safety Improvement Corps: An AHRQ/VA Partnership. October 2004. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/about/psimpcorps.htm

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