The Gerontologist
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
 QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     


This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Lau, D. T.
Right arrow Articles by Emanuel, L.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Lau, D. T.
Right arrow Articles by Emanuel, L.
The Gerontologist 47:830-837 (2007)
© 2007 The Gerontological Society of America

Health-Related Safety: A Framework to Address Barriers to Aging in Place

Denys T. Lau, PhD1, Karen Glasser Scandrett, MD1, Mary Jarzebowski, BS1, Kami Holman, MS2 and Linda Emanuel, MD, PhD1

Correspondence: Address correspondence to Denys T. Lau, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Section Director of Health Services and Policy Research, The Buehler Center on Aging, Health & Society, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, 750 N. Lake Shore Drive, Suite 601, Chicago, IL 60611. E-mail: D-Lau{at}northwestern.edu

Maintaining safety in the home and community is a national public health concern, especially for older adults who "age in place." In this article, we introduce a multicausal concept called "health-related safety," which is defined as the minimization of the probability of preventable, unintended harm in community-dwelling individuals. Derived from the modern patient safety movement, health-related safety attributes adverse health events in the home and community to systematic breakdowns in the societal system, not to the commission of errors by particular individuals. Extending beyond health care institutions, the health-related safety framework is composed of multiple levels: micro (consumers and providers); mezzo (homes and communities); and macro (policies). Because the societal system is complex with inherent risks, health-related safety will require a culture shift and system redesign, new tools of risk assessments and management, and continuous safety improvement. We propose a research agenda to further refine the health-related safety framework by using empirical evidence and to develop appropriate mathematical and practical models from safety sciences to support this initiative. This article moves the field forward by applying systems thinking and safety sciences to health-related safety in the home and community, thereby paralleling what researchers have begun to do with patient safety in health care systems.







HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
All GSA journals Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences
Copyright © 2007 by The Gerontological Society of America.