Establishing a Culture of Safety

Each member of UPMC’s health care team has the freedom and support to report errors and suggest ways to improve.

At UPMC, we know that this “culture of safety” is key to realizing our goal of the best possible quality care. We especially focus on ways to reduce and eliminate errors, such as infections and medicine mistakes.

What You Can Do

You have a crucial voice in this process. Your insights and concerns are vital to helping support a culture of safety at our hospitals. The more you understand and take part in your care, the better and safer it is.

Should an error occur in your care, you and your family will have many ways to report and share your concerns.

Our health care team must also report problems. The ultimate goal is to find new solutions for improved care.

How We Measure Safety Progress

We also measure our progress in these critical areas by comparing our performance to national benchmarks.

The Wolff Center at UPMC and The Beckwith Institute also recognize, reward, and support proactive efforts by our doctors, nurses, therapists, and others. This promotes safety and prevention.

• The Richard L. Simmons, MD, Speak Up for Patient Safety Award is presented annually to staff members whose actions clearly impact patient safety, and demonstrate Dr. Simmons’ passion and commitment to patient safety in caring for patients.
• The Good Catch Award allows peers to nominate their colleagues to recognize them for preventing an adverse situation. This award is presented quarterly to one person per region.