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[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 831 Introduced in House (IH)]

109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 831

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 22, 2006

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
  To support the goals 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 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 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 U.S. operating rooms;
Whereas the United States Senate during the 109th Congress supported a National 
        Time-Out Day in 2005 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 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, and 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 designate and 
        celebrate National Time Out Day on June 21, 2006, and each third 
        Wednesday of June thereafter 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 ideal 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.
                                 <all>
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