Patient Safety Summit - My Thoughts

I attended the Patient Safety Summit on last weekend.  I had no idea what to expect.  When I first looked at the cost to register, I was like, I don’t have $1000.  So I emailed Jim Bialick and to my surprise received a scholarship to register.  I then wrote back and asked if Robyn could attend with me and received one for her too.  We live near Irvine, California so this was not a problem for us because we did not have to travel.

For me, and I am not advertising for the Patient Safety Movement, it was very encouraging.  Although, they did not present on the issue that Robyn was faced with, those presented on were Sepsis, Resuscitation and IT issues, which are also very real to families who have lost loved ones due to errors in these areas.  So I could not be selfish and say, what about Robyn.  My viewpoint is, that there are so many avenues to address when it comes to medical errors that the fact that someone outside of us, is willing to stand up and say this is wrong and needs to be acknowledged, is a plus for all of us. 

The only way to eliminate medical errors is that we all come together in this fight against the mighty giant that so many have refused to acknowledge and stand up to.  The goal of the Patient Safety Movement is to eliminate medical errors in hospitals by 2020.  When I heard this, I said to myself they have a long road ahead.  Those of us who have met with the corruption in the medical community know that this is going to be a long road to hoe.  However, if the federal government gets on board, as former President Clinton suggested during his speech, then it will propel the movement forward and make that goal more attainable.  It was also encouraging that Vice President Biden recognized the issue and offered his and President Obama’s support.

Now if someone admitted to a hospital acquires a hospital borne infection during their stay the cost to treat this infection is the responsibility of the hospital.  Medicare will no longer pay for this cost. This encourage hospitals to be more responsible in their reporting and treatment of patients. It is pretty obvious that the negligence is on the part of the hospital.  For many years, because hospitals were making profits off of these infections, there was no urgency in preventing them.  But now that they won’t be reimbursed and stand the chance of losing revenue, they are waking up to the call to prevent these errors.

As I said these are just a few areas of patient errors, but it is a step forward and someone is hearing our call and doing something.  For many patients, like Robyn, it is too late to correct what happened, but at least we can try to make sure it does not happen to others.  I was encouraged by the summit.  There is so much work to be done in the area of medical negligence/errors that one person cannot do it all.  I think each year the summit selects a different issue as their focus.  We all want to be heard and the way I see it, as the movement grows, the more issues will be addressed.  We cannot do this alone.  Like many of you who have been affected, I am skeptical too.  But to see that someone, outside of us, cares enough to start the ball to rolling on this issue and is garnering the attention and support that we have not been able to get, gives me hope.