BU School of Medicine Researcher Awarded Patient Safety Investigator

By Allison Rubin (BU Today Article)

(Boston)- South End resident Brian Jack, MD, vice chair of family medicine at Boston Medical Center (BMC) has been awarded Patient Safety Investigator of the Month by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Jack and his colleagues are setting a course to homogenize the way patients are discharged from hospitals. Through the Re-Engineered Discharge Process (or RED), Jack and his team hope to reduce inappropriate readmissions, increase patient satisfaction and promote primary care services in the community after a hospital stay. This will ensure that patients are well-prepared when they leave the hospital.

An estimated 20 percent of the 38 million patients discharged from hospitals each year result in adverse medical events and re-hospitalizations that could have been prevented.

“I am interested in what we can do to support patients when they are discharged” says Jack. “The quality of care patients receive is very important, but so is the support they receive once they are discharged.”

The National Quality Forum (NQF) already has endorsed RED and last March listed the system as one of 30 practices that a hospital needs to be considered a “safe” institution.