[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 456 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 456

 Supporting the goals and ideals of an annual National Time Out Day to 
   promote patient safety and optimal outcomes in the operating room.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 5, 2007

 Ms. Kaptur submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
                  the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Supporting the goals and ideals of an annual National Time Out Day to 
   promote patient safety and optimal outcomes in the operating room.

Whereas according to an Institute of Medicine (IOM) report entitled ``To Err is 
        Human: Building a Safer Health System'', published in 2000, between 
        44,000 and 98,000 hospitalized people in the United States die each year 
        due to medical errors, and untold thousands more suffer injury or 
        illness as a result of preventable errors;
Whereas the IOM report recommends the establishment of a national goal of 
        reducing the number of medical errors by 50 percent over 5 years;
Whereas there are more than 40,000,000 inpatient surgery procedures and 
        31,000,000 outpatient surgery procedures performed annually in the 
        United States;
Whereas it is the right of every patient to receive the highest quality of care 
        in all surgical settings;
Whereas a patient is the most vulnerable and unable to make decisions on their 
        own behalf during a surgical or invasive procedure due to anesthesia or 
        other sedation;
Whereas improved communication among the members of the surgical team and a 
        reduction in medical errors in the operating room are essential for 
        optimal outcomes during operative or other invasive procedures;
Whereas the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses, the Joint Commission 
        on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, the American College of 
        Surgeons, and the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management 
        celebrated a National Time Out Day on Wednesday, June 23, 2004, to 
        promote the adoption of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of 
        Healthcare Organizations' universal protocol for preventing wrong site 
        surgery errors in United States operating rooms;
Whereas the Senate during the 109th Congress supported a National Time Out Day 
        in 2005 and 2006 on behalf of the Association of periOperative 
        Registered Nurses, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare 
        Organizations, the American College of Surgeons, and the American 
        Society for Healthcare Risk Management to promote the adoption of the 
        Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations' universal 
        protocol for preventing errors in the operating room;
Whereas the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses, joined by coalition 
        partners, celebrated a National Time Out Day on June 22, 2005, for the 
        purpose of promoting safe medication administration practices, and the 
        Association of periOperative Registered Nurses distributed ``Safe 
        Medication Administration Tool Kits'' to more than 5,000 hospitals and 
        13,000 nurse managers or educators;
Whereas the 109th Congress passed the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act 
        of 2005 to provide for the improvement of patient safety and to reduce 
        the incidence of events that adversely affect patient safety;
Whereas the Association of PeriOperative Registered Nurses, joined by coalition 
        partners, celebrated a National Time Out Day on June 21, 2006, for the 
        purpose of promoting safe medication administration practices;
Whereas the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses develops and issues 
        with coalition partners universally-accepted authoritative statements, 
        recommended guidelines, best practice guidelines, and competency 
        statements for how to provide optimal care for patients in the operating 
        room;
Whereas there is nationally-focused attention on improving patient safety in all 
        healthcare facilities through the reduction of medical errors;
Whereas the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses, the recognized 
        leader in patient safety in the operating room, promotes the highest 
        quality of patient care during all operative or invasive procedures; and
Whereas the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses will celebrate 
        National Time Out Day on June 20, 2007, and has designated each third 
        Wednesday of June thereafter as National Time Out Day, to promote 
        patient safety and optimal outcomes in the operating room by focusing on 
        the reduction of medical errors, fostering better communication among 
        the members of the surgical team, and collaborating with coalition 
        partners to establish universal protocols to increase quality and safety 
        for surgical patients: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved,  That the House of Representatives--
            (1) supports the goals and ideals of an annual National 
        Time Out Day as designated by the Association of periOperative 
        Registered Nurses for ensuring patient safety and optimal 
        outcomes in the operating room; and
            (2) congratulates perioperative nurses and representatives 
        of surgical teams for working together to protect patient 
        safety during all operative and other invasive procedures.
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