The safety imperative to transform health care

Despite extensive efforts in many countries, safe health care continues to be elusive. Old patterns persist. To reach the levels of safety that we already know how to provide requires not just improvement; but transformation. This issue of QSHC advances a call from a group of US healthcare improvement and safety leaders to adopt five concepts that they consider essential to this transformation. This call is accompanied by an editorial and commentaries from colleagues in France and Australia. The concepts include the following: 1) Transparency must be universal. 2) Care must be delivered by multidisciplinary teams who work in integrated care platforms. 3) Patients must become full partners in all aspects of health …