Websites listed in this category either provide overview information, or include information in several categories (including consumers, nursing, medication safety, etc.)

* Denotes a web site that is recommended either due to its extensive patient safety information, or specific tools or resources that may be useful.

*Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality (AHRQ)

This is a public health agency under the department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

2101 E. Jefferson St., Suite 501
Rockville, MD 20852
Phone: 301-594-1364
Email: info@ahrq.gov
Agency site: www.ahrq.gov
Patient Safety: www.ahrq.gov/qual/errorsix.htm

Description: This site covers AHRQ's involvement with patient safety through links to press releases, important documents, speeches, statements and hearings. Links are also provided to some fact sheets, and information about the Quality Interagency Coordination Task Force. Consumer tip sheets on preventing error can be found directly at http://www.ahrq.gov/consumer/5tipseng/5tips.pdf.

*American Hospital Association

One North Franklin
Chicago, IL 60606-3421
Phone: 312-422-3000
Email: No email address provided, but can email directly through the site.
Agency site: www.aha.org

Description: This site offers information on AHA's initiatives, and focuses on medication safety and safety culture. Resources include links to successful practices, reporting information, the Strategies for Leadership series in PDF format, and links to major reports. Also see American Organization of Nurse Executives.

American Medical Association (AMA)

515 N. State St.
Chicago, IL 60610
Phone: 312-464-5000
Email: Though no general address provided, it is possible to email to specific departments from the site.
Agency site: www.ama-assn.org

Description: For information on patient safety, this site will direct to the National Patient Safety Foundation's web site (www.npsf.org) . However, in addition, it is possible to pull up AMA-related reports and articles through a search.

*Bridge Medical

120 South Sierra
Solana Beach, CA 92075
Phone: 858-350-0100
Fax: 858-350-0115
Email: sales1@bridgemedical.com
Agency Site: www.bridgemedical.com Patient Safety: www.mederrors.com

Description: The general site provides information on patient safety software systems, and general culture of safety reports (i.e., "Beyond Blame"). Mederrors.com provides more extensive information, including a CE course entitled "Anatomy of an Error," features on patient safety topics, a history of tracking errors, consumer tips, a hospital checklist, legislation, grants, a library of patient safety article summaries, and FAQs.

Centers for Disease Control (CDC)

1600 Clifton Rd.
Atlanta, GA 30333
Phone: 404-639-3311
Agency Site: www.cdc.gov
Patient Safety: www.cdc.gov/ncidod/hip/

Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion - DHQP

Description: This site provides some links to some of the main patient safety reports, as well as information related to infection control, including specific clinical guidelines.

Cerner

2800 Rockcreek Parkway
Kansas City, MO 64117
Phone: 816-201-1024
Email: Can email directly from the site.
Agency Site: www.cerner.com
Patient Safety: www.cerner.com/industry/industry_3a.asp?id=844

Description: This site focuses on patient safety from a business and technology perspective. Includes information on IOM, Physician Order Entry, and culture of safety, as well as links to reports and news items.

Department of Defense (DoD)

Armed Forces Institute Pathology
Attn: Patient Safety Center
1335 East West Highway, Suite 6-100
Silver Spring, MD 20910-9813
Phone: 301-295-7242
Toll-free: 1-800-863-3263
Fax: 301-295-7217
Email: PATIENTSAFETY@afip.osd.mil.
Agency Site: www.defenselink.mil
Patient Safety: www.afip.org/PSC

Patient Safety Workgroup

Description: Contains information on the center for patient safety in the Department of Defense, which is geared toward identifying systemic errors in the military system. Patient Safety newsletters included.

Emergency Care Research Institute (ECRI)

5200 Butler Pike
Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462-1298, USA
Telephone: 610- 825-6000
Fax: 610- 834-1275
Email: info@ecri.org Agency Site: www.ecri.org
Patient Safety: www.mdsr.ecri.org (Medical Device Safety Reports)

Description: ECRI provides a range of tools and resources related to patient safety and healthcare quality, particularly focusing on devices and technology. Medical Device Safety Reports is a repository for incidents related to device errors.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

5600 Fishers Lane
Rockville MD 20857-0001
Phone: 1-888-INFO-FDA (1-888-463-6332)
Email: Can email the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research directly from the site
Agency Site: www.fda.gov
Patient Safety: www.fda.gov/cder/drug/MedErrors/

Center for Drug Evaluation & Research

Description: This site includes medication error reports, specific drugs associated with errors, directions for reporting a medication error ( www.fda.gov/medwatch/ ), and federal guidelines.

Institute for Healthcare Improvement

375 Longwood Ave., 4th Fl.
Boston, MA 02215
Phone: 617-754-4800
Fax: 617-754-4848
Email: info@ihi.org
Agency Site: www.ihi.org
Patient Safety: www.qualityhealthcare.org/qhc/

Description: This site includes information on change concepts, overviews of presentations, and links specific to preventing falls and iatrogenic infection.

Institute of Medicine (IOM)

2101 Constitution Ave., NW
Washington, D.C. 20418
Email: iomwww@nas.edu
Agency Site: www.iom.edu
Patient Safety: http://www.iom.edu/IOM/IOMHome.nsf/Pages/Quality+Initiative

Description: This site includes all current and past reports and studies related to quality of care and patient safety.

*Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP)

1800 Byberry Rd., Suite 810
Huntingdon Valley, Pa. 19006
Phone: 215-947-7797
Fax: 215-914-1492
Email: ismpinfo@ismp.org
Agency Site: www.ismp.org

Description: This site has excellent resources for hospitals and consumers, including alerts/fact sheets, surveys, articles, action agendas, events, and information on ISMP-Canada and ISMP-Spain.

*Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO)

One Renaissance Blvd.
Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181
Phone: 630-792-5000
Fax: 630-792-5005
Agency Site: www.jcaho.org
Patient Safety: www.jcaho.org/accredited+organizations/patient+safety/

Description: This site provides good general information regarding standards, standards development, sentinel events, and legislative issues. Contains Sentinel Event Alert, a glossary, statistics, resources on reporting and responding to sentinel events, as well as links to other sites.

Leapfrog Group

Executive Director: Suzanne Delbanco, Ph.D.
c/o the Academy
1801 K Street, NW, Suite 701-L
Washington, DC 20006
Phone: 202-292-6711
Fax: 202-29-6813
Email: sdelbanco@leapfroggroup.org
Agency Site: www.leapfroggroup.org

Description: Contains information on the Leapfrog Group's approach, as well as information and fact sheets on three initiatives, including computer physician order entry, evidence-based hospital referral, and ICU physician staffing. Also includes tool kit for purchasers, and links to other patient safety and healthcare web-sites.

*Medical Error and Patient Safety Learning

Email: SHEASP@MedicalErrorReduction.com
Agency Site: www.medicalerrorreduction.com

Description: This site offers extensive resources including books, articles, links to legislative acts, vendor booths, educational opportunities, and fact sheets. Of particular interest is this site's offer of consultation services for providers, as well as a forum for sharing stories for both patients and providers.

Medscape

Agency Site: www.medscape.com

Description: Medscape's Medical Errors/Patient Safety Resource Center is a collection of the latest medical news and information on this topic. This resource includes news, articles, links to key government and professional organizations, MEDLINE abstracts, and other resources.

National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA)

2000 L Street, NW, Suite 500
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 202-955-3500
Fax: 202-955-3599
Agency Site: www.ncqa.org

Description: This site will provide information on NCQA's accreditation programs, including its recent modifications to include patient safety.

National Council on Patient Information and Education

4915 St. Elmo Ave., Suite 505
Bethesda, MD 20814-6082
Phone: (301) 656-8565
Fax: (301) 656-4464
Email: ncpie@ncpie.info
Agency Site: www.talkaboutrx.org

Description: This site is designed to help consumers make sound decisions about a very important, and sometimes frequent, part of good health: use of medicines. Two out of three doctor visits end with a prescription being written. While taking medicines is very common, it's not always easy to take them correctly.

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Building 1
1 Center Drive
Bethesda, Maryland 20892
Phone: 301-496-4000
Agency Site: www.nih.gov

Description: Although there is no part of this site devoted to patient safety, it is possible to pull up relevant reports and statements through a search.

*National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF)

515 N. State St.
Chicago, IL 60610
Phone: 312-464-4848
Fax: 312-464-4154
Email: info@npsf.org
Agency Site: www.npsf.org

Description: This site offers information on research in patient safety, upcoming conferences, press releases, and on-going events. Additional resources include the Clearinghouse (a search engine for patient safety resources), the Speaker's Bureau (a forum for finding speakers on patient safety), general patient safety publications, the patient safety listserv, and resources specific to providers and consumers.

National Quality Forum (NQF)

601 Thirteenth Street, NW, Suite 500 North
Washington, DC 20005
Phone: 202-783-1300
Fax: 202-783-3434
Email: info@qualityforum.org
Agency Site: www.qualityforum.org

Description: This site offers information regarding NQF's on-going projects and reports in patient safety, as well as links to reports that have already been completed. With membership, it is possible to gain access to more extensive resources. Includes information that is patient safety-focused as well as quality-focused.

Partnership for Patient Safety (P4PS)

One Superior Place, Suite 2410
Chicago, IL 60610
Phone: 312-274-9695
Fax: 312-274-9696
Email: info@p4ps.org
Agency Site: www.p4ps.org

Description: This site promotes the organization's patient-centered approach for improving healthcare. It provides information about the Partnership symposia (past and present), call for abstracts, products for sale (including the video "First, Do No Harm"), and news and reports.

Patient Safety Institute (PSI)

Contact: Lori Jeanne McKenna
Phone: 617-587-2024
Email: lmckenna@brodeur.com
Agency Site: www.ptsafety.org

Description: This site provides information on this organization, which strives to work with hospitals, providers and patients to reduce medical error through the use of technology and the building of relationships.

Quality Interagency Coordination Task Force (QuIC)

Dr. John Eisenberg,
QuIC Operating Chair and Director, AHRQ
C/O Nancy Foster, AHRQ
2101 E. Jefferson Street
Rockville, MD 20852
Phone: 301- 594-1609
Email: info@ahrq.gov
Agency Site: www.quic.gov

Description: The site for this task force, which was developed under HHS and AHRQ, includes the Report to the President, patient fact sheet, press releases, research agenda, and general information about the work groups that are currently underway.

Risk Management Foundation (RMF)

101 Main Street
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142
Phone: 617-495-5100
Toll-free: 877-RMF-CRICO (1-877-763-2742)
Fax: 617-495-9711
Email: webteam@rmf.harvard.edu
Agency Site: www.rmf.harvard.edu

Center for Patient Safety

Description: This site offers links to an Interview with Lucian Leape, an on-line CME course on risk management, 8 Principles for Developing Education in Patient Safety, and other related resources. Also includes access to extensive general risk management information.

US Pharmacopoeia (USP)

12601 Twinbrook Parkway
Rockville, MD 20852
Phone: 800-822-8772
Phone: +1-301-881-0666 (International)
Agency Site: www.usp.org

Description: This site offers information on USP's standards and activities. In addition, USP operates two medication error reporting, tracking, and analysis programs: the Medication Errors Reporting (MER) Program (operated in collaboration with the Institute for Safe Medication Practices) and the MedMARx^SM Program. MedMARx is an Internet-accessible database for hospitals to report and track medication errors anonymously.

*Veteran's Administration (VA)

National Center for Patient Safety

24 Frank Lloyd Wright Drive, Lobby M
PO Box 486
Ann Arbor, MI 48106-0486
Phone: 734-930-5890
Email: NCPS@med.va.gov
Agency Site: www.va.gov

Description: This site has extensive resources in patient safety. Highlights include information on culture of safety, root cause analysis, a glossary of terms, a discussion room, and a library. Also check out the virtual learning center located at www.va.gov/vlc.

Voluntary Hospitals of America (VHA)

P.O. Box 140909
Irving, TX 75014-0909
Phone: 972-830-0000
Email: feedback@vha.com
Agency Site: www.vha.com

Description: Although this site does not have a section specifically about patient safety, a search will lead to excellent information on patient safety activities and products with which VHA (a network of leading healthcare organizations) has been involved.

This information is provided by way of the National Patient Safety Foundation.