The National Patient Safety Foundation proposes to research and develop a standard method of patient safety education that will reach large audiences. The goal of this program is to equip healthcare providers, administrators, and patients with practical patient safety science knowledge that can be applied to interactions within the healthcare system. The education mechanism will be a web-based basic and population- specific, patient safety continuing education with a supporting database on web-available patient safety resources. The specific research objectives are to develop: --an education module for the basics of patient safety; --an education model for population and anesthesia-specific patient safety; --a web-based patient safety education center, and refine it; and disseminate to a --a broad-based network for the educational materials. The Medical College of Wisconsin will provide accreditation for the educational modules that will be designed to serve trainees, practicing clinicians, administrators, and patients. Two advisory groups will ensure the integrity of the material: (1) experts in patient safety and (2) representatives of those receiving the education (e.g., in medicine, nursing, pharmacy, health administration, and patients). The proposed initiative is a three-year project.
