Navigating quality and safety in your health system: understanding the alphabet soup

Entering any new healthcare system today requires thorough knowledge about its quality and safety structure and culture. Learning that language is generally the first step in gaining a better understanding of how systems function. This overview of common mnemonics in the quality and safety world will provide the reader with better comprehension of their quality systems within their institutions. Healthcare providers should understand how patient safety organizations were established and the importance of our safety event classification system, along with the ability to recognize gaps in care that highlight opportunities for improvement. In addition, this review provides explanations of error prevention tools used every day to help new colleagues communicate better and share situational awareness to keep patients safe. Lastly, utilization of standard quality improvement tools can facilitate quality improvement projects and assist all healthcare systems to become highly reliable organizations.