(AHRQ: Rockville, Maryland) -- An array of toolkits designed to help doctors, nurses, hospital managers, patients, and others reduce medical errors was recently released by the U.S. Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

The 17 toolkits, developed by AHRQ-funded experts who specialize in patient safety research, are free, publicly available, and can be adapted to most health care settings. The toolkits range from checklists to help reconcile medications when patients are discharged from the hospital, to processes to enhance effective communication among caregivers and with patients to toolkits to help patients taking medications.

“These toolkits build on AHRQ’s investment in patient-safety research over the past six years and support our commitment to research that can be put to use in everyday settings,” says Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D., AHRQ director. “These toolkits are a major advance toward putting knowledge into practice and saving lives.”

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