Establishing a Culture of Safety

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

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

As a patient, you have a critical voice in this process. Your insights and concerns are important to supporting a culture of safety at our hospitals. The more you understand and participate in your care, the better and safer it will be. And should an error in your care occur, you and your family will find a variety of ways to report and share your concerns.

Every member of UPMC’s health care team also shares a responsibility to report any problem with the ultimate goal of identifying solutions for improved care. We also measure our progress in these critical areas by comparing our performance to the 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 to promote safety and prevention. You can read more about these efforts on their websites.