A dozen of Hawai'i's hospitals are joining about 4,000 others nationwide in a national campaign aimed at making hospitals safer by lowering medical errors over a two-year period.

While the 5 million Lives Campaign officially kicks off in December, local hospitals already are gearing up, and 130 people have signed up for a town hall meeting discussing the program on Friday at The Queen's Conference Center.

"We're being much more collaborative," said Dr. Melinda Ashton, medical director for patient safety and quality at Hawaii Pacific Health, the state's largest operator of hospitals. "We can learn from each other."

In recent years, hospitals have been increasing their focus on patient safety and locally have looked into a number of vehicles, including a task force organized by the Healthcare Association of Hawaii. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement, organizer of the 5 Million Lives campaign, estimates 15 million incidents of medical errors occur in hospitals each year. That works out to 40 or 50 cases of some sort of physical injury occurring to patients for every 100 hospital admissions.

The institute was behind the 100,000 Lives Campaign run between December 2004 and June 2006. It estimates 122,300 lives were saved at the 3,100 participating hospitals during the program. Several Hawai'i hospitals participated in that program, which focused on six areas that could make a difference in saving lives.

The new program focuses on 12 areas. Ashton said the program helps intensify hospitals' focus on safety issues in a more systematic way, where best practices are shared and hospitals concentrate on making sure each patient gets the right care each time. That includes some practices developed in Hawai'i.

The successful implementation of special care interventions for heart attacks at Kapi'olani Medical Center at Pali Momi is being included among the guidelines being set out for the 5 Million Lives Campaign. Honolulu cardiovascular surgeon Dr. Mark Grattan helped develop recommendations on improving sterile environments in operating rooms and keeping blood sugar levels stable during and after surgery.

Reach Greg Wiles at gwiles@honoluluadvertiser.com.