The goal of the Patient Safety Surveillance and Improvement System (PSSIS) is to improve patient safety during hospitalizations, decrease serious adverse events that occur in Vermont hospitals, and facilitate quality improvement efforts by hospitals. The Vermont Department of Health is charged by statute to operate the PSSIS, and contracts with the Vermont Program for Quality in Health Care (VPQHC) to administer the current program.
Key Components of the Patient Safety Surveillance and Improvement System (PSSIS) are in two main categories; Internal Hospital Procedures and External Reporting.
Internal Hospital Procedures
Each Vermont hospital must:
- Establish internal policies and procedures to identify, track and analyze all adverse events and near misses
- Conduct appropriate causal analysis
- Develop and implement corrective action plans
External Reporting
Each Vermont hospital must report to the Patient Safety Surveillance and Improvement System incidences of any of the National Quality Forum’s serious reportable events and for each event:
- Conduct an appropriate causal analysis
- Develop and implement a corrective action plan
- File the causal analysis and corrective action plan with the Patient Safety Surveillance and Improvement System
- Each hospital must report any incidence of intentional unsafe acts