To recognize The National Patient Safety Foundation's Patient Safety Awareness Week #PSAW2015 we asked our colleagues in the Harvard medical community to complete this sentence: "Patient safety is..." Here are some of their responses.

1. Patient Safety is…
Patient Safety
Awareness Week
March 8–14, 2015
#PSAW2015
What does patient safety mean to you?
Our colleagues who work in patient
safety and risk management shared
with us what patient safety means to
them.

2. Patient safety is…
To recognize Patient
Safety Awareness
Week, we asked our
colleagues what
patient safety means
to them.
#PSAW2015
“Patient safety is NOT an elective.
Patient Safety is EVERYONE'S
responsibility.”—M.B.

3. Patient safety is…
To recognize Patient
Safety Awareness
Week, we asked our
colleagues what
patient safety means
to them.
#PSAW2015
“Patient safety is a discipline that
focuses on building upon current
knowledge and practice to
improve the overall safety and
care of patients.”—B.S.

4. Patient safety is…
To recognize Patient
Safety Awareness
Week, we asked our
colleagues what
patient safety means
to them.
#PSAW2015
“Patient safety is the ‘true North’
for any patient interaction.
Without safety as our focus, every
interaction, procedure, visit,
surgery, or even phone call has the
potential to harm our patient,
instead of help them.”—C.W.

5. Patient safety is…
To recognize Patient
Safety Awareness
Week, we asked our
colleagues what
patient safety means
to them.
#PSAW2015
“Patient safety is achieved by
people pulling together as a team,
both caregivers and patients, for a
common good.”—L.G.K.

6. Patient safety is…
To recognize Patient
Safety Awareness
Week, we asked our
colleagues what
patient safety means
to them.
#PSAW2015
“Patient safety is creating a
culture of transparency, where
staff feel comfortable speaking up
when errors occur so that we can
improve systems and ensure that
we provide the best care possible
to our patients.”—L.R.

7. Patient safety is…
To recognize Patient
Safety Awareness
Week, we asked our
colleagues what
patient safety means
to them.
#PSAW2015
“Patient safety is central to clinical
care and quality improvement.”—
Y.H.

8. Patient safety is…
To recognize Patient
Safety Awareness
Week, we asked our
colleagues what
patient safety means
to them.
#PSAW2015
“Patient safety is more than just
the act of providing quality care
free of defects. It's a way of
thinking and the culture we are
moving more towards
everyday.”—T.O.

9. Patient safety is…
To recognize Patient
Safety Awareness
Week, we asked our
colleagues what
patient safety means
to them.
#PSAW2015
“Patient safety is everyone's
responsibility. No matter what
your job role is, somewhere...the
work that you are doing touches
our patients.”—R.C.

10. Patient safety is…
To recognize Patient
Safety Awareness
Week, we asked our
colleagues what
patient safety means
to them.
#PSAW2015
Tweet to @CRICOtweet what
patient safety means to you using
#PSAW2015.