ASHRM Patient Safety Portal

ASHRM continues to advance patient safety, reduce uncertainty and maximize value through management of risk across the health care enterprise.  This is a portal to relevant and useful patient safety programs, tools, and information.

• ASHRM Patient Safety Programs
• ASHRM Patient Safety Tools
• ASHRM Patient Safety Publications and Content
• AHA Patient Safety Resources
• The Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine’s (SIDM) Clinical Reasoning Toolkit
• Additional Readings/Resources

ASHRM Patient Safety Programs

Patient Safety Certificate Program

The Patient Safety Certificate Program is a blended-learning program designed to assist health care risk management and patient safety professionals apply key patient safety concepts to support improved patient care and outcomes. Participants will review the core concepts of patient safety and how to apply each to affect positive change in their organization.

The HRM Certificate Program

The HRM Certificate Program, a cornerstone of ASHRM’s professional development opportunities, covers key aspects of risk management while providing valuable continuing education credits. Leading experts, professional contacts, powerful tools and impactful lessons are just some of the valuable ways in which participants and their employers can benefit from attending the HRM Certificate Program.

Certified Professional in Health Care Risk Management (CPHRM)

Administered by the American Hospital Association (AHA), the Certified Professional in Health Care Risk Management (CPHRM) is the health care industry’s premier certification for the risk management profession. The AHA's Certification Center determines eligibility requirements, exam content, testing procedures, and other aspects of certification and oversees the examination process.

ASHRM Patient Safety Tools

Patient and Care Provider Tool

Use the Patient and Care Provider Tool as a starting point for customizing your own tool. Effective communication between the care provider and a patient is an essential step in building an open, shared decision-making and trusted relationship. Communication is one key to the delivery of high-quality outcomes and patient satisfaction scores. Customize the tool to your service line areas, population of patients served and identified patient needs. Provide the tool to new patients or as they are preparing for a follow up or next scheduled outpatient visit.

ASHRM Whitepapers & Toolkits on Patient Safety

High Acuity Patient External Transfer Handoff Guidance Tool
Serious Safety Events: A Focus on Harm Classification: Deviation in Care as Link Getting to Zero White Paper Edition No. 2 (PDF) (October 2014)
Serious Safety Events: Gettting to Zero: White Paper Edition No. 1 (PDF) (October 2012)
Disclosure of Unanticipated Events (PDF) (2013)& ASHRM Active Risk Control (ARC) Toolkit
Telemedicine Risk Management Considerations (PDF) (May 2018)
ASHRM Health Care Facility Workplace Violence Risk Assessment Tool

ASHRM Patient Safety Publications and Content

ASHRM Health Care Risk Management Fundamentals
ASHRM Fundamentals is a gateway resource for new and seasoned health care risk management professionals. It will help readers understand the fundamentals of risk management and Enterprise Risk Management and provide insights into the risk associated with all of the moving parts of a health care organization. This text utilizes the ERM model to illuminate the fundamental domains of health care risk management including Clinical Risk Management and Patient Safety, the Legal and Regulatory Environment, Claims and Litigation and Risk Financing.

Patient Safety Risk Management Playbook
Gain the knowledge to promote an enterprise risk management program that enhances patient safety and demonstrates added value of data and matrix with ASHRM’s Patient Safety Playbook. The book will help you become a more knowledgeable and confident health care risk manager through the use of data and metrics, an approach that supports patient safety and risk reduction programs and initiatives. 

ASHRM Root Cause Analysis Playbook
The ASHRM Root Cause Analysis Playbook is an invaluable resource for when harmful patient safety events happen in your health care facility. This Playbook gives risk managers of all experience levels an industry-proven template for responding to these sentinel events, with a clearly-framed step-by-step approach to RCA. This book also contains all of the leading RCA tools in one place, from fault trees to approximate cause analysis, as well as guidance on how to choose the right response team and ask the right interview questions.

Root Cause Analysis Team Member Workbooks (6) and FREE Facilitator Guide
This Root Cause Analysis (RCA) Team Member Guide and Facilitator Guide is for you, as a RCA team member or a facilitator, to understand the RCA process and your important role. When an event occurs, the RCA team will review the event, to understand why the event happened, and to decrease or eliminate a like event from occurring again.

Physician Office Risk Management Playbook
Get the resources you need to manage risk in physician office practices. This playbook is your go-to reference for tools and references on risk management issues including follow up of test results, missed appointments, medical records, patient communication, scope of practice issues, patient termination and much.

ASHRM Journal of Health Care Risk Management
The Journal of Health Care Risk Management publishes research, trends, and new developments in the field of health care risk management with the ultimate goal of advancing safe and trusted patient-centered health care delivery and promoting proactive and innovative management of organization-wide risk. The journal focuses on insightful, peer-reviewed content that relates to patient safety, emergency preparedness, insurance, legal, leadership, and other timely health care risk management issues.

AHA Patient Safety Resources

The Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine’s (SIDM) Clinical Reasoning Toolkit
Diagnostic reasoning is fundamental for any provider. The Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine’s (SIDM) Clinical Reasoning Toolkit highlights dozens of scholarly articles and resources to improve clinical reasoning skills.

AHA Quality & Patient Safety: https://www.aha.org/advocacy/quality-and-patient-safety
AHA Quality Improvement Opportunities: https://www.aha.org/ahia/advancing-best-practices/quality-improvement-opportunities
AHA Trustee Services: Eliminating Harm, Improving Patient Care: A Trustee Guide

Additional Readings/Resources

1. Gawande, A. (2010). The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right. New York: Metropolitan Books.
2. Marx, D. (2009). Whack-a-Mole: The Price We Pay For Expecting Perfection. Minnesota: By Your Side Studios.
3. Prescription Medication Disposal Safety Guide, www.pharmaquotes.com/prescription-medication-disposal
4. Reason, J. T. (1997). Managing the Risk of Organizational Accidents. England: Ashgate Publishing Ltd.
5. Wachter, Robert (2012). Understanding Patient Safety, 2nd Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional.
6. Weick, K. E. & Sutcliffe, K. M. (2015). Managing the Unexpected: Sustained Performance in a Complex World. New Jersey: Wiley.

Patient Safety Resources

ASHRM has identified the following resources on patient safety to assist you in identifying useful information and helpful contacts. View Resources