ABSTRACT
Like other countries, the Netherlands followed the United States in taking measures to determine the number of adverse events, including unnecessary deaths that occur during hospital care. A national patient safety program—the Prevent Harm, Work Safely program—was established to reduce hospital mortality. The Prevent Harm, Work Safely program was one in a series of national and local interventions aimed at improving quality and safety in the Dutch hospital sector. The Prevent Harm, Work Safely program was established directly after the Better Faster program, but followed a different course. Rather than focusing more generally on quality, the program directly targeted patient safety. Over the last 10 years, there have been a number of public scandals involving failing hospital quality and safety. Most notable was the 2008 scandal surrounding the high levels of post-operative mortality rates following cardiac surgery at the Radboud University Hospital.
