VA Health Systems Research: Investments in multidisciplinary research are foundational to reduce preventable harm to patients (April 2024)

Summary

Health Services Research (HSR) conceptual models examine the complexity and “basic science” of patient safety. HSR methods can help quantify patient safety problems, enhance their understanding, and develop and test solutions. However, preventable harm persists and even worsened during the pandemic. One reason is inadequate attention and investment in patient safety over the past two decades. Significant investments are still needed to measure the burden of different patient safety events across settings and to address emerging safety threats. Solutions need to be developed, evaluated, and implemented through rigorous research to ensure widespread, effective adoption. Multidisciplinary strategies are required both to mitigate safety threats before they lead to patient harm, and to close the implementation gap.

Outside of AHRQ and VA funding, patient safety research in the United States is underfunded. Efforts to translate HSR to patient care, policy, and clinical practice is essential for patient safety improvements. These efforts require health services researchers to go beyond publishing a paper; they must work closely with healthcare organizational leaders, clinicians, policymakers, and patients to ensure their findings are acted upon, and to help propose and test solutions.

The National Center for Patient Safety (NCPS) offers an excellent model to do so by funding dedicated patient safety centres of inquiry (PSCIs) nationally. PSCIs focus on research and implementation activities that promote organization-wide learning. The PSCI model adds significant value to creating a learning health system for safety that invests in patient safety data gathering, analysis, learning, and actionable improvements.