In emergency departments across NYU Langone Health, patient safety is our number one concern. The Division of Emergency Medicine Quality, Safety, and Practice Innovation, part of the Ronald O. Perelman Department of Emergency Medicine, is dedicated to ensuring that we provide emergency care of the highest quality.

Our medical teams use the latest tools in data analysis, simulation, and systems science to continually assess and refine the practices and protocols providers use in NYU Langone’s Ronald O. Perelman Center for Emergency Services and in emergency departments at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue, NYU Langone Hospital—Brooklyn, and NYU Langone Health—Cobble Hill Emergency Department at the Joseph S. and Diane H. Steinberg Ambulatory Care Center.

Together with experts from our various emergency medicine divisions, including the Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, which staffs the KiDS Emergency Department at Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone, we collect and share data in real time, producing valuable datasets that reflect diverse patient populations.

Our team of dedicated data analysts uses sophisticated computational tools to integrate multiple data sources into powerful dashboards. This allows us to identify relevant points for review and discussion in the department’s frequent quality and safety committee and safety action group meetings.

Our collaborative approach to data analysis and visualization enables us to find solutions to problems and apply new protocols to our practice. Resulting interventions include enhanced systematic linking with NYU’s information technology infrastructure, new educational initiatives, improved best practices for medical teams on the floor, and updated scenarios for simulation training.

Our work reflects a shared effort by medical teams in many NYU Langone departments and results in better care for patients in all of our hospitals.

Quality, Safety, and Practice Innovation Education

We offer educational opportunities to emergency medicine trainees at every level. Our fellowship in emergency department safety and quality prepares physicians for leadership roles in patient care, quality assurance, and education.

Our programs for emergency medicine residents provide clinical experience in supervisory roles as well as innovative and wide-ranging didactics. Our faculty members lecture on basic patient safety, medication safety, and diagnostic errors. They serve as mentors in our bimonthly quality and safety journal clubs and morbidity and mortality conferences; participate in pharmacy and therapeutics meetings and institutional root cause analysis sessions; and participate in the department’s annual medical toxicology course.

We also work with physician assistants, nurses, and faculty to make sure that all physicians and house staff are up to date on safety practices.

Quality, Safety, and Practice Innovation Research

Our faculty and research teams participate in important studies to investigate how we can use new technologies to enhance patient safety in our emergency departments. Our projects have received funding from many sources, including the National Institutes of Health National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering; the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS); the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command; and the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response.

Current projects include partnerships in the creation of a multidisciplinary facility, the NYU Patient Imaging Quality and Safety Laboratory (PIQS Lab). The goal of the PIQS Lab is to help providers determine appropriate radiologic imaging or procedures in the emergency department. We aim to improve the quality and safety of diagnostic and therapeutic radiology by redesigning the institutional systems that guide providers in their decision making.

In another project, we are assisting in implementing a regional image-sharing network among NYU Langone and other New York City medical centers to improve emergency providers’ access to electronic health records and reduce the number of unnecessary radiologic tests.

In addition, we have received grants to explore how we can use data visualization tools to improve diagnosis and medication administration, assess patients’ cognitive stress levels and other symptoms, and identify early warning indicators to guide disaster response and recovery.

Quality, Safety, and Practice Innovation Leadership

Silas W. Smith, MD
Director, Division of Emergency Medicine Quality, Safety, and Practice Innovation
Clinical Associate Professor, Ronald O. Perelman Department of Emergency Medicine

Elizabeth J. Haines, DO
Patient Safety Officer, Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone
Director, Center for Quality and Safety, Sala Institute for Child and Family Centered Care
Clinical Associate Professor, Ronald O. Perelman Department of Emergency Medicine and Department of Pediatrics