Coalition Activities
This page only describes activities sponsored and/or endorsed by the Washington Patient Safety Coalition. Please also visit our page for other conferences and initiatives that might be of interest to the patient safey community.
If you are aware of a patient safety-related event to share with the community, or are seeking opportunities to collaborate or exchange ideas, please contact us.
Northwest Conference on Patient Safety
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Hilton Seattle Airport & Conference Center
Featured Keynote and Plenary Session speakers:
- Robert M. Wachter, MD, Professor and Associate Chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, who coined the term "hospitalist" in a 1996 New England Journal of Medicine article, served as the first elected president of the Society of Hospital Medicine, and edits the field's main textbook, Hospital Medicine
- Daniel O’Connell, PhD, a nationally-recognized speaker who will give an afternoon plenary talk on dealing effectively with disruptive behavior by providers, and will also give a breakout session on disclosure
- Gail Nielsen, the Iowa Health System Clinical Performance Improvement Education administrator, who will give both a plenary talk and breakout session focusing on literacy and transitions in care.
Breakout sessions include themes of communication, medication safety, preventing infection, and safe procedural care. Presentations and small-group discussions in workshop formats provide a full-day event that will challenge participants’ assumptions about best practices, and provide tools and methods that can be quickly put to use in participants’ care settings.
Click here for selected presentations and handouts from last year's conference...
Patient Safety & Medication Safety Networks
The Coalition sponsors a network for patient safety professionals committed to improving the safety of patients in our healthcare system. The group facilitates dialogue, collaborates on the development of best practices and regional standards, and harnesses the collective wisdom of peers to make dramatic improvements in healthcare safety.
In early 2009, the Coalition also began sponsoring the Medication Safety Network, a group of professionals who meet to exchange information and experiences that can improve medication-related challenges for our patients in all settings. Membership is open to anyone who is involved in medication safety activities in their practice setting.
Patient Safety Teleconferences
Recognizing the need to offer more learning opportunities to the community, the Coalition has expanded its offerings in 2009 to 12 monthly teleconference calls for professionals in the health care community (up from the previous four quarterly calls), covering topics ranging from fall reductions, bedside bar-coding, managing high-alert medications, and safe transitions in care, among others. All are welcome to participate in these teleconferences at no charge.
Medication Safety Initiative
An initiative is underway to improve medication safety by focusing on the prevention of error via improved communication between prescribers, pharmacists, and patients. Links to several resources are available, including an unsafe abbreviation tip card was created and distributed to Physicians Insurance subscribers.
The Coalition’s CQIP Status
The Washington Patient Safety Coalition is recognized by the State of Washington’s Department of Health as a Coordinated Quality Improvement Program (CQIP). CQIP status provides exemption from disclosure for information and documents specifically created for, collected, and maintained by an approved program. Being a CQIP provides important legal protection for the quality improvement activities carried out under the auspices of the Coalition, and enhances the ability of Coalition partners and participants to collaborate on patient safety issues. The WPSC’s CQIP document includes information about the Coalition’s structure and activities. For additional information about Washington’s CQIP and related laws, see the Department of Health website.
