2nd May, 2016 An online guest lecture was arranged on Simple Strategies for Safer Hospitals by Prime Institute of Public Health at Kuwait Teaching Hospital on May 5, 2016. The guest speaker Dr. Susan Moffatt-Bruce is the Chief Quality and Patient Safety Officer , a renowned cardiothoracic surgeon, Associate Professor of Surgery, and Associate Professor of Molecular Virology, Immunology and Genetics at the Ohio State University Medical Center. She is also the Associate Director of Center for Lean Healthcare Research.
Considerable number of physicians, clinical managers, and academic staff, head of the departments and allied health professional from different public and private hospitals, medical schools, and social and developmental sectors attended the session. Director Postgraduate Program Unit at Prime Institute of Public Health (PIPH) Dr. Zeeshan, formally introduced the guest speaker.
The speaker brought light on different challenges related to patient safety in clinical settings. According to her, the paradigm shift from volume to value is comparatively a new development in healthcare sector even in the US. The healthcare industry has high-risk organizations but to make it high-reliable organizations like those in aviation, we will have to bring the patient safety to the forefront.
She emphasized that patient safety and quality improvement in clinical settings is a long winding journey that requires patience, humility, courage, teamwork, and above all scientific evidence in the form of data, prevalence and incidence rate for a given phenomenon. During her presentation, she highlighted the different Total Quality Improvement (TQI) and Continuous Quality Management (CQM) tools for hospitals to improve patient’s safety.
During the question and answer session, in response to a question that where should we start our patient safety efforts in Pakistan, Dr. Moffatt-Bruce suggested, 'mortality data'. She indicated that usually the survival or mortality data is an easy, and logical starting point. Though, developing an operational definition of survival that everyone involved in healthcare delivery agrees to often is a challenge, she cautioned.
While responding to another question, Dr. Moffatt-Bruce explained the contents and structure of the patient safety modules she helped develop for the medical students and residents (Trainee Medical Officers) at Ohio State University Medical Center.
In the end, she appreciated Prime Institute of Public Health's efforts towards improving patient safety and offered her continued support for its future endeavours in improving patient safety across Pakistan.
