A jury of our PEERS

Recognizing the importance of free and honest communication across its network of 44,000 employees, Trinity Health, Novi, Ml, created what it calls the "Potential Error/Event Reporting System" (PEERS) as a tool to gather data from the system's own physicians, nurses, and staff members. PEERS is anonymous, voluntary, nonpunitive, and available to all through the system's intranet. PEERS makes it possible for any person to alert management to a problem--a medication error, patient fall, inappropriate behavior, procedure, or other problem--that puts patients or caregivers at risk. Since the implementation of PEERS, Trinity Health's leaders have found that physicians, nurses, and other staff members are far more willing than formerly to share their experiences for the benefit of the greater good. Ninety percent of Trinity Health facilities, including home-health sites, have adopted PEERS as part of their regular error-reporting data set.