Principles of patient safety in pediatrics

The American Academy of Pediatrics and its members are committed to improvi ng the health care system to provide the best and safest health care for in fants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In response to a 1999 Insti tute of Medicine report on building a safer health system, a set of princip les was established to guide the profession in designing a health care syst em that maximizes quality of care and minimizes medical errors through iden tification and resolution. This set of principles provides direction on set ting up processes to identify and learn from errors, developing performance standards and expectations for safety, and promoting leadership and knowle dge.