Implementing Patient Safety Practices in Small Ambulatory Care Settings

The collaborative model of improvement efforts was an effective model for improving patient safety in small group practices. Structural and process changes often do not require major changes in workflow or large technology installations. Many of the projects allowed for, or required, local assessment and management. However, within a large system of clinics, some of the improvements in this study-verbal order policy, methodology and/or technology for assessment of medication and allergy list accuracy, warfarin care-required systemwide efforts. The degree of difficulty of achieving improvements was surprisingly low and barriers were minimal.