High 5s Project

The High 5s Project is an international collaboration for global implementation of measures to improve patient safety in hospitals. The project was initiated in 2006 by the Commonwealth Fund, the WHO World Alliance for Patient Safety and the WHO Collaborating Centre for Patient Safety. The name High 5s refers to the original project goals, according to which in the course of 5 years, the incidence of 5 important patient safety problems in 5 countries should be significantly reduced.

Organization

In 2011, following 8 countries are project involved: Australia, France, Canada, Netherlands, Singapore, Trinidad & Tobago and the United States. In all these countries, so-called Lead Technical Agencies ( LTA) have been established as a national Koordiationszentren. In Germany, these are - with the support of the Federal Ministry of Health, the Medical Centre for Quality in Medicine and the Coalition for Patient Safety. The overall coordination is carried out by the Joint Commission International as a WHO Collaborating Centre for Patient Safety.

Objectives

Objectives of high 5s are the implementation and evaluation of standardized recommendations for the sustainable improvement of patient safety.

Activities

The main activities of the project include the development, implementation and analysis of problem - specific standard operating protocols (SOPs ) and corresponding quality indicators zue evaluation. The focus of the project first three recommendations for action to prevent medical errors and optimize the following problems in patient care: