IHI marks World Patient Safety Day with patient safety certification milestone and commitment to diagnostic excellence

For World Patient Safety Day, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) is celebrating the milestone of 7,000 healthcare professionals who have earned the Certified Professional in Patient SafetyTM (CPPS) credential. Certification requires a combination of education, experience, and successful completion of the evidence-based certification exam. This includes more than 1,000 students, staff, and faculty from the University of North Texas Health Science Center’s Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine, which is the first medical education program in the world to incorporate the CPPS review course and exam as a required part of the curriculum.

“These are 7,000 health care professionals across the world who are changemakers in safety, and their expertise and commitment to safer care for all is saving lives each and every day,” said Patricia McGaffigan, RN, MS, CPPS, IHI Senior Advisor, Safety, and President of the Certification Board of Professionals in Patient Safety (CBPPS). “The impressive growth of the CPPS program in recent years has resulted in a larger, more diverse health care workforce with competencies in safety. This is concurrent with the call to action for health care leaders to use the National Action Plan to Advance Patient Safety Organizational Assessment Tool to identify opportunities to improve foundational areas for safety across many elements that are aligned with the new CMS Patient Safety Structure Measure that will take effect next year.”

The 7,000 certificants span clinical settings and include safety, quality, and risk managers and leaders, nurses, physicians, pharmacists, health care executives, medical students and residents, academic faculty, and many more clinical and non-clinical professionals. IHI offers scholarships that cover the full cost of the CPPS review course, practice exam, and CPPS exam. A full day CPPS review course will be held December 8 at the 2024 IHI Forum. Learn more about the full Forum agenda and how to register here.

In addition to the CPPS review course, the Forum’s Patient and Workforce Safety track offers nearly 20 unique sessions for onsite learners, including multiple workshops that align with the theme for this year’s World Patient Safety Day: “Improving diagnosis for patient safety.” IHI is steadfastly committed to diagnostic excellence and continues to advance this critical component of safe and effective care through educational offerings, fellowships, projects, and tools, including the Safer Dx Checklist: 10 High-Priority Practices for Diagnostic Excellence.