Patient Safety Curriculum

In response to the IOM’s recommendation for “Establishing a national focus to create leadership, research, tools, and protocols to enhance the knowledge base about safety,” the Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS), under the direction of its Committee on Quality Medical Practice, along with leading experts in patient safety and MMS staff, has developed a comprehensive Patient Safety Curriculum.

Who is the curriculum for?
The curriculum is intended to be taught by physicians to physicians, or used by hospital/practice risk managers to educate staff. It is targeted to physicians with office based practices, other ambulatory care practices, and hospital privileges.

What is the curriculum’s purpose?
To educate practicing physicians and residents regarding opportunities and strategies for the improvement of patient safety.

How should the curriculum be used?
The curriculum is organized into three modules, with each module designed to support approximately one hour of instruction and group discussion. Included within each module is a:

• Leaders Guide,  
• PowerPoint presentation, and  
• a presentation evaluation form.

There is also an Introduction and Overview of the entire curriculum (for instructors) and a presentation evaluation form for the overall curriculum.

All materials are available for download below, in Word and PowerPoint format.

Saving the slides: PC Users: Click the right mouse button on the above link. Mac Users: Click and hold down the mouse on the above link. Then (Mac and PC) from the popup menu that appears, select 'Save this Link' and release the mouse button. You will then be asked where to save the file on your local machine. The name of the file is not important, just be sure to select 'source' rather than 'text.'

Introduction and Overview - Leaders Guide (.doc, 123 KB, 18 pages)

Evaluation - Overall (.doc, 33 KB, 1 page)

Module I - Medical Error Scenarios and Perspectives on Patient Safety: This module is designed to support a lecture presentation and discussion. It sets the stage for the entire curriculum by presenting three global scenarios in which medical errors occur. It is recommended that participants be given an opportunity to discuss how the scenarios may relate to situations they see in their own practices. It also supports a lecture presentation on strategies for improving patient safety, including sections on the role of error reporting, success stories in safety improvement, and systems thinking.

Module I Leaders Guide (.doc, 83 KB, 6 pages)

Module I Presentation (.ppt, 208 KB, 42 slides with speaker notes)

Module I Presentation Evaluation Form (.doc, 36 KB, 1 page)

Module II - Medication Safety, Systems & Communication: This module focuses on strategies for error reduction in three aspects of clinical practice: prescribing safety, tracking systems and follow-up, and transcultural communications. The instructional guidelines include prompts for group discussion of ways to enhance factors that help to assure patient safety, and to overcome hindrances to patient safety.

Module II Leaders Guide (.doc, 84 KB, 6 pages)

Module II Presentation (.ppt, 319 KB, 31 slides with speaker notes)

Module II Presentation Evaluation Form (.doc, 38 KB, 1 page)

Module III - Case Studies and Root Cause Analysis of Adverse Events: This module is designed to support a group discussion in which participants can perform root cause analysis on the cases presented and relate common themes in the curriculum, such as communication and systems thinking, to their own practices.

Module III Leaders Guide (.doc, 149 KB, 19 pages)

Module III Presentation (.ppt, 95 KB, 25 slides with speaker notes)

Module III Presentation Evaluation Form (.doc, 37 KB, 1 page)