By Miriam Marcus-Smith

Over the last few months, I’ve had the privilege of getting to know one of the Coalition’s new individual members, Gary Fasso, and have been learning from what may seem an unlikely source of wisdom about patient safety: the trades. Gary is with the Pacific Northwest Council of Carpenters and trains the members in safe practices for when they are working in occupied healthcare buildings (e.g., remodeling hospitals or clinics). I’m learning so much from him about what is transferable from construction to healthcare.

By Susan Carr

Among the events I look forward to each fall, the MITSS Annual Dinner holds a special place because of the loyal and diverse community of people who gather to support and celebrate the work of Linda Kenney, Winnie Tobin, and many others who pursue the MITSS mission, to “support healing and restore hope to patients, families, and clinicians impacted by adverse medical events.” At this year’s dinner (the 11^th annual), held Thurs., Nov. 29, in Boston, MITSS honored Thomas Gallagher, MD, with the HOPE Award, given each year to Honor Outstanding People Everywhere who have furthered MITSS’s mission. Sanjay Malaviya, president and CEO of RL Solutions, the award sponsor, presented Dr. Gallagher with this year’s honor.

HIMSS honors Dr. Jeremy Bradley Family Practice located in Owensboro, Ky., as a winner of the 2012 Ambulatory HIMSS Davies Award of Excellence. Since 1994, the Nicholas E. Davies Award recognizes excellence in health information technology, specifically excellence in use of the EHR to successfully improve quality of care and patient safety while achieving a demonstrated return on investment.

North Mississippi Health Services was named as one of four U.S. organizations to receive the 2012 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation’s highest Presidential honor for performance excellence through innovation, improvement and visionary leadership.

The TeamSTEPPS National Conference organizers are looking for presenters who wish to share their stories about any new, innovative and engaging ways they are using team training to improve patient safety in their organization. The conference will take place June 12-13, 2013, in Dallas, Texas.

Over the past several weeks, many of us at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and Food and Drug Administration have been evaluating the submissions for the Reporting Patient Safety Events Challenge.

By Susan Carr

Even at times of highest stress and acrimony during the recent political campaign, there were pockets of optimism within the medical community about our ability to solve the country’s healthcare problems. I’ve written about this refreshing and unexpected optimism before, following last year’s IHI National Forum. I ran into it again recently, not surprisingly, with Don Berwick, MD, who was the closing keynote speaker at the Pega Collaborative Healthcare Summit in Boston last month.

The American Nurses Association (ANA) has released draft Safe Patient Handling and Mobility National Standards to a broad array of professions and individuals for public comment, a critical step toward establishing a uniform, national foundation for programs to improve safety for patients and health care workers. The public comment period is open through Nov. 30.

Patient safety is an ever increasing focal point for improving efficacy and efficiency in the U.S. healthcare system, across all provider settings. Now the Missouri Center for Patient Safety (MOCPS) is poised to share its mission across the country.