Abstract
The first Institute of Medicine (IOM) report refocused the whole health profession on patient safety. The goals described in this article were the result of the St. John Health System doing the same. We believe that a comprehensive approach rather than just focusing on adverse drug events was important. This refocusing has been for the most part uniform and identical throughout the system. This article describes how, based on the literature supporting the first IOM report, St. John Health System developed a comprehensive approach to improving patient safety and how that was implemented in our 8 hospital system with independent medical staffs.