What is Working in Patient Safety?

IRVING, Texas -- Patient safety leaders and innovators from hundreds of healthcare organizations are attending the third annual partnership symposium in Washington, D.C. Oct. 14-16 to explore cutting-edge approaches for reducing medical errors in a uniquely interactive three-day learning laboratory. Continuing a tradition, Partnership Symposium 2002: Smart Designs for Patient Safety participants will also confront again the thorny issue of accountability for safety. In a time where healthcare leaders face both increasing demands for openness and escalating exposure to liability suits, they will look at examples from hospitals that are doing "the right thing" and tackle the obstacles that keep others from joining their ranks.

"A smart infusion pump with a built-in drug library; news about the nation's first hospital being designed and built around the concept of patient safety; a hands-on simulation laboratory that includes several aviation-based training models, an innovative approach to conflict resolution and lawsuit prevention developed at the United States Naval Hospital in Bethesda, and a new program to help hospitals rebuild themselves into 'just cultures' are just a few of the things participants can try out in this unique conference experience," said Nancy Wilson, MD, MPH, vice president of clinical affairs for VHA Inc. "Healthcare workers can hear the experts speak at any number of excellent patient safety meetings. Partnership Symposium 2002 differs in being highly interactive. Our model is a science museum. Attendees will be able to actually try things out and get a better handle on which designs work best for your organizations."

This is not to say that the symposium lacks heavy hitters with something new to say. Lucian L. Leape, MD, Harvard School of Public Health adjunct professor and arguably the conscience of the modern patient safety movement, delivers an opening keynote exploring a new formulation for "reciprocal accountability" designed to fill in the gap in current checks and balances that, he argues, is dysfunctional now. Rep. Nancy L. Johnson (R-CT), chairman, House Ways & Means Subcommittee on Health, is scheduled to discuss patient safety legislation she is spearheading that would dramatically advance federal government support for solutions to the problem. Nancy Conrad, the wife of astronaut Charles "Pete" Conrad who died during medical treatment, and Charles Inlander, president of the Peoples Medical Society, contribute consumer viewpoints and challenges. And in the closing keynote, Dennis O'Leary, MD, president of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, will report on hospital chief executive officers' viewpoints on the "business case" for safety, coming directly from a CEO gathering hosted by the JCAHO.

Martin J. Hatlie, JD, president of Partnership for Patient Safety, said, "The partnership symposia in 2000 and 2001 were immensely invigorating for participants because we created new opportunities for interaction with people often perceived to be adversaries -- journalists, plaintiffs' lawyers and the family members of patients who experienced medical errors, among others. The conversations that arise usually aren't comfortable, but they're the ones where old thinking gets shaken up and clearer vision emerges."

In addition to an excellent roster of speakers, Partnership Symposium 2002 debuts a provocative new film titled, "First, Do No Harm 2: Taking the Lead." Developed from actual closed malpractice claims experienced by the Harvard healthcare system, it explores how one hospital deals with tension, uncertainty, fear and frustration while deciding what do after a patient is seriously harmed. "It's designed to get people talking about what it really means to be patient-centered, using a dramatized case study as a learning tool," Hatlie said. "The real stories are so unbelievably rich and complex, and all the more motivating because they actually happened."

"Premier Inc. has been pleased to be a co-convenor of the partnership symposia from the beginning," said Gina Pugliese, director of the Premier Safety Institute. "It says a lot that Premier, VHA and p4ps have worked together for years to invite every health care organization with aspirations to improve performance, every educator with an innovative approach, and every business engaged in developing patient safety solutions to join us in the effort to disseminate ideas that can be literally life saving. We're doing in the private sector what the Institute of Medicine called upon the entire healthcare community to do, and we've done it in the truest and best spirit of partnership. Premier is proud of these contributions."

Conference sessions will be divided into six learning tracks focused on promoting safety, technology, culture, facility design, work force issues and employee safety. Attendees will experience first-hand smart designs, including hands-on learning laboratories where participants will test simulators, computerized physician order entry systems, point of care technologies and more.

Professional patient safety experts will host free advice sessions. These experts include: Arnold Milstein, MD, MPH, medical advisor to the Leapfrog Group; David C. Classen, MD, MS, vice president First Consulting Group, a leading expert on computerized physician order entry systems; and Gordon M. Sprenger, MHA, former chief executive officer of Allina Health System in Minneapolis and recent winner of a JCAHO/NCQA Individual Leadership in Patient Safety Award.

Partnership for Patient Safety, Premier Inc., VHA Health Foundation Inc., and VHA Inc. are sponsors of the symposium. Conference endorsers include Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, American Society for Healthcare Risk Management, Healthcare Leadership Council, Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, Medical Group Management Association, National Business Coalition on Health, National Committee on Quality Health Care and National Patient Safety Foundation.

Source: PRNewswire