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THE GRACE REPORT
Headlines- December 19, 2005

Page 3 Article (Downloadable PDF here)

Boston’s Beth Israel Tackles Errors in Labor & Delivery

Lessons from airline and military pilots help Beth Israel improve patient safety

CEO Summary: When one of the nation’s flagship teaching hospitals turned to the Department of Defense for lessons in how to reduce errors, many ob-gyns were skeptical. However, after adopting resource management and communication techniques from the U.S. military, ob-gyns at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts, have used them to cut both the number of malpractice claims and adverse events in its labor and delivery unit. Now in its third year, the program has reduced the amount of money reserved for claims, from $8.7 million in 2001 to $3.8 million for all of 2004.

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Page 7 Article (Downloadable PDF here)

Study of OB Claims Triggers Move to Team-Based Care

Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center blazes innovative path encouraging team care

CEO Summary: In response to a particularly tragic case involving medical errors in 2000, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts, took a radical course of action. It decided to explore how the decision-making processes used in aviation to reduce errors and accidents could be used in its labor and delivery unit. After studying 10 years of malpractice claims, the hospital began training its ob-gyns and staff on these techniques in 2001. Since then, there has been a noticeable reduction in cases involving errors.

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