The relationship between patient safety and quality improvement in neonatology

Patient safety and healthcare quality have become foundational components of neonatal care, and hospitals and neonatal intensive care units have developed robust programs and structures committed to improving outcomes through rigorous quality improvement methods. Despite increasingly more sophisticated frameworks for defining and understanding quality, the relationship between patient safety and health care quality is not clearly defined. Safety is often defined as the avoidance of injury and harm, while quality is typically defined as achieving the best possible health care outcomes. Safety can be considered one of multiple domains of quality, and safety can also be considered synonymous with quality. Regardless, both safety and quality are driven by systems of care, and improvement methods should focus on understanding and improving these systems. While many improvement methods will apply to safety goals or quality goals, there are unique aspects of patient safety that require specific tools and approaches. Achieving the safest and highest quality healthcare for our patients and families requires an understanding of the tools needed to improve both safety and quality.