Experts gather for patient safety conference
Charelston, WV - The West Virginia Medical Institute, Charleston Area Medical Center, and CAMC Health Education and Research Institute in November co-sponsored the Sixth Annual Patient Safety Conference in Charleston.
Representatives from all aspects of health care came together at the Embassy Suits in Charleston for “Interactive Patient Safety: Research, Reaction, Reality.” The conference highlighted effective evidence-based processes, along with ways to help overcome the barriers to implementing patient safety initiatives.
WVMI Chief Medical Officer John Brehm, MD, said participants’ interest in the conference, as well as in other important programs, shows that patient safety is a leading subject of interest to West Virginia’s hospital community.
“It puts West Virginia in the ranks of states with an active program supporting dissemination of information in the field of patient safety,” he said.
Attendees included doctors, hospital representatives, medical societies, pharmaceutical companies, medical liability insurers, medical device manufacturers, foundations, law firms, health policy research institutions and consumer advocacy groups.
Guest speakers were Gina Pugliese, RN, MS, vice president of the Premier Safety Institute and the editor of its Safety Share online newsletter; Author David Marx, JD, president of Outcome Engineering, LLC, in Plano, Texas; and Brian Sayre, PharmD, of CAMC.
Patricia A. Johnston, EdD, vice president for professional practice and the chief nursing officer for CAMC, moderated the panel discussion “Does Quality Improvement Promote Patient Safety Initiatives?” Panelists included the guest speakers, along with Denise Myers, RN, risk manager at Monongalia Health System in Morgantown; Paul English Smith, JD, vice president and general counsel of Cabell Huntington Hospital Inc. in Huntington; and Dale Wood, CAMC’s chief quality officer.