Organization and Acronym Guide

Agency for Health Care Policy and Research—AHCPR
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality—AHRQ
American National Standards Institute—ANSI
Area Health Education Center Program—AHEC
American Hospital Association—AHA
American Medical Association—AMA
American Nurses Association—ANA
Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation—AAMI
Aviation Safety Reporting System—ASRS

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—CDC
Centers for Education and Research on Therapeutics—CERTs
Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety—CQuIPS
Conditions of Participation—CoP

Department of Defense—DoD
Department of Health and Human Services—DHHS
Department of Labor—DOL
Department of Veterans Affairs—VA
Diabetes Quality Improvement Project—DQIP

Employee Benefit Research Institute—EBRI
Employee Retirement Income Security Act—ERISA
Epidemic Intelligence Service—EIS

Federal Aviation Administration —FAA
Federation of State Medical Boards —FSMB
Fiscal Year—FY
Food and Drug Administration—FDA

Health Benefits Education Campaign
Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project—HCUP
Health Care Financing Administration—HCFA
Health Resources and Services Administration—HRSA

Indian Health Service—IHS
Institute of Medicine—IOM
Intensive care unit—ICU

Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations—JCAHO

National Aeronautics and Space Administration—NASA
National Association of Insurance Commissioners—NAIC
National Business Coalition on Health—NBCH
National Committee for Quality Assurance—NCQA
National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention—NCCMERP
The National Forum for Health Care Quality Measurement and Reporting Quality Forum
National Health Care Survey—NHCS
National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance—NNIS
National Patient Safety Foundation—NPSF
National Patient Safety Partnership—NPSP
National Practitioner Data Bank—NPDB

Occupational Safety and Health Administration—OSHA
Office of Personnel Management—OPM
Operating room—OR

Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration—PWBA

Quality Assessment/Performance Improvement—QAPI
Quality Interagency Coordination Task Force—QuIC

Study of Clinically Relevant Indicators for Pharmacologic Therapy—SCRIPT

Veterans Health Administration—VHA

Washington (DC) Business Group on Health—WBGH

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Glossary of Terms

Adverse event: an injury that was caused by medical management and that results in measurable disability.

Error: the failure of a planned action to be completed as intended or the use of a wrong plan to achieve an aim. Errors can include problems in practice, products, procedures, and systems.

Unpreventable adverse event: an adverse event resulting from a complication that cannot be prevented given the current state of knowledge.

Medical error: an adverse event or near miss that is preventable with the current state of medical knowledge.

Near miss: an event or situation that could have resulted in an accident, injury or illness, but did not, either by chance or through timely intervention.

System: a regularly interacting or interdependent group of items forming a unified whole.

Systems error: an error that is not the result of an individual’s actions, but the predictable outcome of a series of actions and factors that comprise a diagnostic or treatment process.

Publication No. OM 00-0004

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Internet Citation:

Doing What Counts for Patient Safety: Federal Actions to Reduce Medical Errors and Their Impact. Report of the Quality Interagency Coordination Task Force (QuIC) to the President, February 2000. Quality Interagency Coordination Task Force. Washington, DC. http://www.quic.gov/report/toc.htm

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