Physicians, MSPs, and the patient safety connection

Marty Makary, MD,  gastrointestinal surgeon, researcher, and associate professor of health policy and management at Johns Hopkins University, offered stark reminders that healthcare can be dangerous to patients in his keynote address at the National Association Medical Staff Services (NAMSS) Educational Conference. Makary, who is also author of Unaccountable: What Hospitals Won't Tell You and How Transparency Can Revolutionize Health Care, cited studies that showed medical mistakes may be the third leading cause of death in the United States each year; and one in four hospitalized patients experience some kind of error.

The medical staff services department has a role to play in ensuring patient safety; this was the underlying message of the presentations at NAMSS, and I talked to several medical staff leaders who said the physicians in their hospitals make that connection. However, I also heard from numerous MSPs who said the physicians and others in their facilities don’t understand all that MSPs do. Clearly there are still areas of opportunity for improvement.

Does your organization connect the dots from medical staff services to patient safety? Let me know at mstevens@hcpro.com.