Patient Safety Science & Technology Summit an Enormous Success!

Last month, I was afforded the opportunity to participate, as a speaker, on a medication safety panel discussion in Laguna Nigel, California, for the annual Patient Safety Science and Technology Summit. This very important event is organized every year by the Patient Safety Movement Foundation, with the primary goal and focus on getting to zero deaths from preventable medical errors by 2020 in our nation. Unfortunately, recent studies have shown, very conclusively, that preventable medical errors are now the third leading cause of death, aside from cancer and heart disease, claiming an astonishing 440,000 lives every year in the United States. These are tragic and senseless deaths that do not have to happen!

The following is the video of the hour-long medication safety panel discussion. This panel discussion opens with the powerful video segment we just posted at the top of The Emily Jerry Foundation’s homepage that was produced by the Patient Safety Movement Foundation for this particular event. If your able, I would really like to encourage you to watch it, in it’s entirety, it will definitely help you to gain a real perspective of what The Emily Jerry Foundation is all about!

Early last year, when I first learned about the Patient Safety Movement and their primary focus of reaching zero deaths from preventable medical errors by 2020, I must admit, I was a little skeptical as to whether this was actually realistic and achievable. Quite frankly, I thought this primary objective might be a bit audacious and unattainable. After working with Joe Kiani, their founder and Sheila Creal their President, as well as, the rest of their remarkable team, these past six to eight months during the planning phases of their second annual Summit, I have learned how mistaken I really was! All of my initial thoughts and opinions have dramatically changed. I now believe, wholeheartedly, that the Patient Safety Movement’s goal is definitely achievable and, subsequently, The Emily Jerry Foundation will continue to support their efforts to help make this vital objective happen by 2020! I am now firmly convinced that by continuing to all work together, to get everyone around the globe to rally behind our cause, we can make this goal a reality together!

At some of the other medical events focused on patient safety and quality of care, where the participants always had the best of intentions, there were times when I felt like everyone was just talking about the programs and measures they could use, to improve overall patient safety, however, they weren’t really taking action and being held accountable for their assurances to adopt and implement these vital programs and measures at their individual hospitals. With that general thought in mind, I think this is what really sets this Patient Safety Science & Technology Summit apart from many other functions I’ve attended in the past. What truly distinguishes this event apart from others, is the fact that they are requiring attendees and participants to make formidable and measurable commitments to adopt and implement the best practices and technology solutions that are proven to effectively save lives. Once a commitment is made by a medical facility, a technology manufacturer, or other entity involved with the Patient Safety Movement Foundation, that commitment is then published on their website (http://patientsafetymovement.org/), for everyone to see. Then at subsequent meetings, everyone involved holds one another accountable for the progress made on that previous commitment. The benefits of this type of program are two fold, as it provides for measurable results for the solutions developed by everyone involved, in addition to, the accountability factors I just aforementioned.

In all my years of working in patient safety and quality of care, I have never had the opportunity to spend so much time, at an important event like this, with so many influential leaders from industry, the government, the medical community, etc., all assembled and working together to not only come up with “solutions”, but all aligned and making actual commitments within their organizations to take the subsequent actions that make these particular “solutions” effective. In addition to all of the amazing people I had the honor of meeting at the Summit, I also had the distinct privilege of meeting former President, Bill Clinton at a small reception prior to his keynote speech. Click here to view local coverage from CBS – LA of President Clinton’s speech. President Clinton is someone I admire and one who has been an inspiration to me, with respect to all of his ongoing humanitarian efforts with The Clinton Global Initiative. Everyone seemed to share my same deep-seated passion about addressing these core issues that are tragically claiming an astounding number of lives every year. Most importantly, all of these esteemed leaders I met and had the opportunity to spend time with, appeared to have the genuine mindset of “doing whatever it takes” to join together, in a focused and concerted effort to save countless lives and ultimately get to zero deaths from preventable medical error by 2020!