ent is on Kaiser Foundation Hospitals. More specifically, the setting for this examination and assessment is the Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center Hospital.
The Kaiser Foundation Hospitals is comprised of a large number of hospitals and medical center hospitals that are operated within a complex organizational structure that includes geographic regions and sub-regions. The Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center Hospital is located at 6041 Cadillac Avenue, Los Angeles, California. The West Los Angeles facility is in the California Region and within that region the facility is in Southern California sub-region. Kaiser Permanente Foundation Hospitals (2005) operates six health care facilities in the West Los Angeles area, of which the Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center Hospital is the largest and most comprehensive within the context of health care services offered. The Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center Hospital offers a full range of health care services.
Patient Safety Goals and Evaluation of the Implementation of the Patient Safety Goals
Patient safety standards for hospitals in the United States have been subjected to increasingly greater official and public interest since 2001. In 2002, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Organizations (JCAHO) issued specific directives aimed at preventing harm to patients in hospitals. At the time, JCAHO noted that the requirements were just the first step in the process of promoting patient safety in hospitals (Morrissey, 2002).
In 2005, JCAHO introduced new requirements and criteria related to specific patient safety goals. The patient safety goals involved were as follows Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Organizations, 2005):
Goal 1: Improve the accuracy of patient identification
Goals 2: Improve the effectiveness of communication among caregivers
Goal 3: Improve safety in using medicati...