IHI has created the 5 Million Lives Campaign [the broken link was removed] in the wake of the successful saving 100,000 lives campaign.
Despite the extraordinary hard work and best intentions of caregivers, thousands of patients are harmed in US hospitals every day. Hospital-acquired infections, adverse drug events, surgical errors, pressure sores, and other complications are commonplace. Based on data collected over several years from multiple partner institutions, IHI estimates that nearly 15 million instances of medical harm occur in the US each year – a rate of over 40,000 per day. This is a burden larger than most patients and professionals, and even some health care researchers, realize.
It is time to declare this toll unacceptable; time to end it.
IHI understands how to manage improvement: this campaign has great possibilities to improve the health care system. See previous posts about IHI’s work: Going Lean in Health Care – Seven Leadership Leverage Points – Fixing Health Care from the Inside – Deming Institute Conference: Tom Nolan
