Using a distance-learning program to educate staff on the Joint Commission National Patient Safety

A motion picture expert group (MPEG) distance-learning program was created in 2003 at Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC; San Antonio, Texas) on the Joint Commission National Patient Safety Goals. The 34 2-4-minute scripted video productions addressed the 7 goals and 13 recommendations for 2003 and 2004. For each goal, three MPEGs respectively describe sentinel events pertaining to that goal, root causes and risk-reduction strategies, and Army Medical Department and BAMC recommendations and policies.

The program entailed creating the scripts, narrating video, editing the tapes, and compressing the videos into the MPEG format.

A featured MPEG was emailed weekly to over 3,000 hospital staff with a scripted endorsement and photograph of a key BAMC leader and a link to the MPEG. In addition, the MPEGs were placed on the hospital's intranet site.

As the National Patient Safety Goal MPEG distance-learning program gained more recognition, different branches of the Army used the program to educate their staff on the Joint Commission National Patient Safety Goals. The next step is to update the distance-learning program with new MPEGs that will provide guidance on the current National Patient Safety Goals.