Commission Updates
- Special 2008 Conference Edition (PDF 4962 KB)
- Issue 6, August 2008 (PDF 542 KB)
- Issue 5, May 2008 (PDF 134 KB)
- Issue 4, January 2008 (PDF 156 KB)
- Issue 3, November 2007 (PDF 904 KB)
- Issue 2, July 2007 (PDF 991 KB)
- Issue 1, January 2007 (PDF 1871 KB)
Falls Prevention Guidelines
Preventing falls and harm from falls in older people: Best practice guidelines for Australian hospitals and residential aged care facilities 2008 is a second edition of the original 2005 guidelines. It is now available with a new design, updated URLs and smaller files for easier downloading.Information Strategy
The Commission's Information Strategy (PDF 250 KB) outlines how the Commission will lead and coordinate the improvement of information and data collection to advance safety and quality. The Information Strategy contains four streams of work, each comprising a suite of projects which will be carried out collaboratively with stakeholders and experts. The Strategy is an evolving document and comments are welcome.A "pocket" version of the Information Strategy (PDF 32 KB) is also available for viewing or download.
Measurement for Improvement Toolkit
The Toolkit is in the form of a manual, or “menu book”, and provides a set of practical methods to measure the safety and quality of clinical health care services.Improving data and information for safer health care is a priority for the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. Without a standard set of measures of clinical performance and mechanisms to identify when patient safety incidents (including "near miss" incidents) occur, it remains a challenge both to prevent or minimise incidents that should not occur and to measure the effect of interventions.
To address this gap, the Commission has completed development of a Measurement for Improvement Toolkit (the Toolkit). The Toolkit was produced in the form of a manual, or “menu book”, and provides a set of practical methods to measure the safety and quality of clinical health care services. It includes practical instructions to assist facilities to collect, analyse and interpret the measurements. The Toolkit is applicable to a wide range of health care facilities across Australia, in the acute, subacute and community care settings. It is a management tool for use at all levels within a health care organisation, and is a means for measurement, and to support local improvement activities.
Toolkit Body and Part A (PDF 841 KB)
Toolkit Part B (PDF 682 KB)
Toolkit Part C (PDF 1733 KB)
Open Disclosure Evaluation
The Evaluation of the pilot of the National Open Disclosure Standard is now available. It demonstrates that the National Open Disclosure Standard is robust, practicable and of value to health care practitioners and consumers.Open Disclosure Literature Review
The open disclosure literature review (PDF 187 KB) provides an overview of recent Australian and international publications on open disclosure. It includes summaries of articles from the legal, ethics and communications literature, as well as analysis of empirical studies and policy documents on open disclosure.Patient Identification Resources
- Ensuring correct patient, correct site, correct procedure protocol
- Ensuring Correct Patient, Correct Site, Correct Procedure in Radiology, Nuclear Medicine, Radiation Therapy and Oral Surgery
- Specifications for a standard patient identification band
- Technology Review of Solutions to Patient Misidentification
- Ensuring Correct Patient, Correct Site, Correct Procedure Protocol for Surgery: Review of implementation and proposals for action
Reducing harm to patients from healthcare associated infection: the role of surveillance
This report summarises the state of healthcare associated infections (HAI) in Australia and makes recommendations for reducing HAI through surveillance and prevention.Sentinel Events in Australian Public Hospitals 2004-2005
The Sentinel Events report is the first joint report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) and the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care.The Sentinel events in Australian public hospitals 2004-05 report and sentinel events media release are available from the AIHW website.
Windows into Safety and Quality in Health Care 2008
Windows into Safety and Quality in Health Care 2008 provides a picture of the current state of safety and quality in both the public and private health sectors. Private sector data was given voluntarily to the Commission by private hospitals, who are working collaboratively with the Commission on all of its programs.
Each chapter of Windows into Safety and Quality in Health Care 2008 focuses on a specific area of patient safety and was written by Australian experts in that field. Topics covered in the report include patient identification, medication safety, clinical handover, healthcare associated infection and accreditation. Other chapters focus on healthcare rights, information for quality improvement, sentinel event reporting and open disclosure.
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