New project to reduce patient harm
Macquarie University secures $1.5 million federal funding to improve the health system’s response when patients are harmed
15 December 2022
The Australian Institute of Health Innovation at Macquarie University welcomed a $1.5 million grant today from the National Health and Medical Research Council to improve the way the health system learns from the more than 500,000 reported events that can result in harm to people receiving care each year.
Lead researcher, Associate Professor Peter Hibbert (pictured) said in partnership with four state health departments and the national government patient safety body, the project will develop and test evidence-based methods for healthcare organisations to improve and measure their response, analysis and learning from incidents, thereby reducing harm to patients.
Reported incidents can include infections, falls or problems with medical devices or medication. Some incidents cause minor harm to the patient, and a small number each year cause death. The cost to the health system is $4 billion or almost 10% of Australian hospital expenditure.
“When patients are harmed, it is imperative that healthcare organisations respond to and learn from those events and prevent other patients suffering a similar incident,” Associate Professor Hibbert said.
“We will work closely with New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and the ACT to research current practices, test interventions that are occurring in health services, and undertake a world-first simulation trial using artificial intelligence."
Project partners are the Clinical Excellence Commission NSW, Clinical Excellence Queensland, Safer Care Victoria, ACT Health and the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. As well as Macquarie University, Chief Investigators from the University of New South Wales, University of the Sunshine Coast, and the Australian Catholic University will be involved in the research.
Associate Professor Peter Hibbert is available for comment, please contact chrissy.clay@mq.edu.au
CENTRES RELATED TO THIS NEWS
Centre for Healthcare Resilience and Implementation Science
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT
Chrissy Clay, Media and Research Outreach Coordinator
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