Current estimates indicate that medical harm is a leading cause of death worldwide and approximately 400,000 deaths occur per year in the US alone as a result of errors or preventable harm.1 To increase awareness, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement has designated March 14-20th as Patient Safety Awareness Week to encourage people to learn, advance discussions, and inspire action to improve the safety of the healthcare system.

Empowering movement is fundamental to any patient rehabilitation program and is a core principle in the prevention of pressure injury development. With the impact of the current pandemic, the focus on mobilizing and rehabilitating patients earlier and often, throughout the day, has never been higher.

Whether climbing mountains to just getting up out of our chairs to walk to the bathroom, movement is key to our independence and quality of life. When we are not able to safely move independently, we become dependent on someone else to help us with activities of daily living.

Reading this title may make you wonder how, where or why there are 1,000 deaths occurring every day. The answer is that these deaths are due to preventable hospital errors that occur in U.S. hospitals daily1. This statistic is staggering, devastating — and in all cases, avoidable.