2010 NPSF Patient Safety Congress: Call for Solutions

Ten years after the IOM report, NPSF seeks to focus on solutions to achieve measurable advances in patient safety.

NPSF is taking a new approach this year to identifying speakers for its Annual Patient Safety Congress, which will be held in Orlando, Florida, on May 17-19, 2010. At this meeting we are eager to present to attendees solutions that have been applied in practice that have solved specific patient safety problems or brought about measurable improvements. We are convinced that there are many of these success stories to be told and feel the “Call for Solutions” will enable us to better identify them. ??Please note that although this Call for Solutions is specifically in search of individuals who will be able to attend the meeting in May 2010 and lead a breakout session, if your submission is not selected it will be automatically considered for review in the Call for Posters to be issued later this fall for the 2010 NPSF Congress Poster Presentations.

We are organizing the tracks of breakout sessions around six distinct themes, which are described as follows:

Enhancing Process Reliability and Safety
In this track we will be looking for stories about how providers and organizations have specifically redesigned existing processes for care delivery to address an identified patient safety problem. We would ask for the speaker to describe the ineffective work that was eliminated and the new process put in place. The cultural challenges that either complicated or accelerated these changes should be described. These sessions can include discussions of how technology was incorporated into practice or how processes of care were modified to enhance specific processes, e.g., hand-offs, patient identification, medication reconciliation. We are not looking here for projects about to launch but for those that have already begun to yield results.

Implications of Health Reform on Patient Safety
In this track we will be asking presenters to focus specifically on how reform either at the state or federal level has impacted how care is provided and to whom. Specifically we are looking for how these changes have either enhanced safety or forced an organization or provider to reassess strategic priorities. In this track we would like to feature stories from Safety Net Institutions related to how leadership has been able to maintain a focus on safety and quality despite access and financial challenges, and how providers have altered their practice given the ever-growing population of uninsured.

Harmonizing and Integrating Operational Practice
with Policy and Regulatory Mandates
In this track we are looking for examples of how organizations prioritize their work so that they can remain in compliance with various policy or regulatory mandates while still focusing on the greatest challenges facing their organization and patient population. Ideally, this track will also present examples where organizations have partnered with external agencies to achieve the synergy needed to move initiatives forward.

Managing Complex Care across the Continuum
Much has been written about the challenges faced by providers in managing chronic disease, complex illness, and care across the continuum. In this track we will be looking for individuals and organizations that have developed new models of care, such as the medical home, effective hospitalist models, models that engage family and the patient in prevention and wellness and others.

Behaviors and Cultural Attributes that Drive Performance
In this track we are looking for speakers who have created new models for accountability and successfully addressing culture or hierarchical behaviors that compromise patient safety. We will be looking at programs that deal with provider accountability and use of evidence-based practice as it relates to patient safety, as well as strategies used to change the patient-provider interaction.

Managing Crowding and Overuse of Services:
Implications for Patient Safety
With increasing numbers of uninsured, overcrowding at record rates in already compromised Emergency Departments, and challenges with accessing timely care, the quality and safety of patient care is being challenged. In this track we will be looking for stories of how organizations are managing access and throughput, effectively using all members of the care team to reduce readmissions and focus on wellness, and developing creative partnership approaches within the community to foster both health education and safety.