Talking about the hospitalized patient’s role in medication safety may suggest shifting responsibility away from the provider, but that is not my intent. This dialogue is intended to foster the development of approaches to care that lead to partnering with patients in care delivery and in sharing responsibility. A decade ago, a survey by the Canadian Institute for Health Information found that Canadians give high priority to enhanced information regarding health. Martin’s survey (2002) of patient views on the patient-provider relationship found that more than 50% of patients believe they have primary responsibility for decisions regarding their health; an additional 35.6% expect to share decision-making with their healthcare providers.

The surge of voluntary regional and national initiatives to improve patient safety demonstrates the momentum building to unite the healthcare community. Recently, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s 100,000 and 5 Million Lives Campaigns enrolled thousands of hospitals in a concerted effort targeting patient safety. Regionally, states such as Maryland have established networks to encourage peer-to-peer collaboration and learning. Now, the federal government has set the groundwork for a national network of organizations working to reduce harm to patients.

Historically, the medical community has accepted that a certain amount of unintended injury and error will occur because of the complex nature of medicine and variation in patients. The executive team of a large multi-state health system knew it had to change that mindset among leaders and healthcare providers in its 32 hospitals.