NASA to analyze VA errors
- By Paula Shaki Trimble
- May 30, 2000
NASA will begin operating a system today for recording and analyzing medical
errors and "close calls" for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The VA Patient Safety Reporting System will be modeled after the NASA-administered
Aviation Safety Reporting System, according to a NASA statement.
The aviation system, which is funded by the Federal Aviation Administration
and operated under an agreement between the two agencies, collects and analyzes
voluntarily submitted reports and is designed to reduce the likelihood of
aviation accidents.
The NASA/VA agreement, which will be signed by Henry McDonald, director
of NASA's Ames Research Center, and Thomas Garthwaite, acting undersecretary
for health at the VA, paves the way for development of the voluntary patient
safety reporting system.
The VA operates 172 medical centers that treated more than 3.3 million patients
in 1999.