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President Clinton Addresses Healthcare Leaders to Cap World Patient Safety, Science & Technology Summit

Humanitarian Awards Presented to UK Health Secretary and Parrish Medical Center VP for Recent Efforts to Improve Patient Safety

2018-02-28 10:01
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LONDON--()--How would US President Clinton change healthcare if he were President of the United States today? That was one of many questions answered as the 42nd President of the United States met with healthcare leaders at the 6th Annual World Patient Safety, Science & Technology Summit, Co-Convened by European Society of Anaesthesiology. President Clinton’s captivating keynote and a special humanitarian award presented to UK Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, and VP of Nursing of Parish Medical, Edwin Loftin, were among the highlights at Day two of the World Patient Safety, Science & Technology Summit.Medical experts, CEOs and patient advocates gathered to tackle the latest challenges in patient safety. Featured panels discussed reducing the growing number of unnecessary C-section births, eliminating infant deaths and how the future of healthcare technology certainly means interoperability of medical devices and information systems to prevent medical error.

PRESIDENT CLINTON DELIVERS KEYNOTE

Entering the room to a raucous standing ovation, President Clinton asked those assembled to focus on the sum of their collective efforts to eliminate preventable deaths in hospitals which could promise a better future for many generations.

“I’ve lived long enough to know that in every endeavor there are no permanent victories and no permanent defeats. All there is, is the permanent gift of choice and life,” President Clinton began.

He encouraged everyone in all aspects of the healthcare field, from CEOs to medical experts and patient advocates, to focus on the results of their efforts stating, “Everything we do gains more meaning when we give the simple gift of one more day to other people.”

Adding upon the messaging of the World Health Organization’s Director-General, Dr. Tedros, President Clinton encouraged attendees to continue the serious work of eliminating preventable harm and begin focusing on helping the movement spread into the developing world. Before ending his keynote, the President sat down for an onstage Question and Answer Session with Patient Safety Movement Foundation Founder, Joe Kiani. He discussed the state of the US Healthcare Industry, Insurance companies and even what he would do as President.

“I think the healthcare budget should be organized around the biggest problems and the biggest opportunities,” explained President Clinton. “We’ve made some progress in this but if we look at other healthcare budgets, Medicare, Medicaid and the VA, they are largely organized to serve the street population. On the surface, that’s good. But if you know you’re missing the larger opportunities, for example, in premature hospital deaths, then I think we should do that.”

ANAESTHESIOLOGY LEADS THE WAY

Summit co-convener, the European Society of Anaesthesiology, President Stefan de Hert opened day two with an examination of perioperative safety. The field of anaesthesiology has experienced radical increases in patient safety. Over the last 25 years, anaesthesia-related deaths have decreased from 1 per 5,000 to 1 per 300,000! Prof. De Hert underscored safety in the field and the critical role of anaesthesiologists in perioperative care.

To reach the highest safety standards, Prof. De Hert stressed the importance of customized care and the need for adequate financial and human resources in providing practical tools. Prof. De Hert used the ESA - EBA Helsinki Declaration on Patient Safety in Anaesthesiology as the shared European view of what is necessary to improve patient safety and recommended practical steps that all anaesthesiologists can include in their practice.

RT. HON. JEREMY HUNT AND EDWIN LOFTIN AWARDED PATIENT SAFETY’S HUMANITARIAN AWARDS

Day Two concluded with the presentation of the annual Humanitarian Awards given to those who have done the most recently in the area of patient safety. This year, the awards honored the memory of Beau Biden and Steven Moreau for their impact on and devotion to public service.

As Attorney General of Delaware and as a Member of the Army National Guard, Beau Biden devoted his life to public service. As Attorney General, Beau dedicated himself to the safety of others, especially children. In his honor, the first Beau Biden Humanitarian Award was presented to Rt. Hon. Jeremy Hunt. Secretary Hunt has proven that patient safety is at the center of his work. He has created patient safety laws that are leading the world in eliminating preventable deaths in NHS hospitals and has set an example to the world.

“Since 2013, Jeremy Hunt has worked tirelessly to improve patient safety and develop a culture of openness and transparency in the National Health Service. Under Secretary Hunt’s leadership - the NHS in England became the first healthcare system to report and publish the number of preventable deaths by individual hospitals on a quarterly basis - and then publish key learning and improvements made to eliminate preventable deaths on an annual basis. His work in implementing independent investigations of medical errors include elements of the CANDOR program as developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality (AHRQ) which has been proven to reduce serious patient safety events by about 65%,” said Joe Kiani, Founder and Chairman of the Patient Safety Movement Foundation.

Mr. Kiani continued, “In 2017, Secretary Hunt championed a bill which for the first time, established a fully independent investigations body that seeks to find answers in the event of a medical error instead of laying blame. His passion for patients and their families did not stop at the border of UK. Secretary Hunt created the Global Ministerial Summit on Patient Safety, where he invited all of his colleagues from around the world to learn and act, to fix the patient safety problems that are causing over 3,000,000 preventable deaths a year around the world. The third Global Ministerial Summit on Patient Safety will be held in Tokyo in middle of this April. On day one of the 2018 Summit, Secretary Hunt announced groundbreaking new measures to improve patient safety in the NHS which are projected to save 22,000 lives annually in the UK.”

The second humanitarian award given was given in the name of Steven Moreau, the late CEO of St. Joseph’s Hospital in Orange and a Board Member of the Patient Safety Movement Foundation. Steve dedicated himself to helping others whether it was through work or gifts of time. He was responsible for leading the development of their renowned centers of excellence in cancer, heart and vascular, orthopedics, and was an unrelenting advocate for eliminating preventable harm in hospitals. The first Steven Moreau Humanitarian Award was presented to Edwin Loftin, VP of Nursing at Parrish Medical Center in Florida.

“Edwin first became involved with the Patient Safety Movement in 2016, and when he did, he and Parrish Medical Center, joined with great enthusiasm. At the time, Parrish made so many commitments to implement processes that were proven to reduce medical error that our staff believed it was an error. However, when we spoke with Edwin, his response was “why wouldn’t we make all these commitments.”

Known for cultivating person and family-centered care in hospitals, Edwin led Parrish Medical Center’s efforts to become the first in the nation to implement all APSS. This year, Parrish Medical Center became the first hospital in the world to receive the five-star hospital rating from the Patient Safety Movement Foundation, due to their commitment to patient safety by implementing all of the PSMF processes known to prevent medical errors from becoming fatal. For more information, please visit www.patientsafetymovement.org.

About Patient Safety Movement Foundation:

More than 200,000 U.S. patients and three million worldwide die each year from preventable causes. The Patient Safety Movement Foundation (PSMF) was established through the support of the Masimo Foundation for Ethics, Innovation, and Competition in Healthcare to reduce that number of preventable deaths to zero by 2020 (0X2020). Improving patient safety requires a collaborative effort from all stakeholders, including patients, healthcare providers, medical technology companies, government, employers, and private payers. The PSMF works with all stakeholders to address problems with actionable solutions. The Foundation also convenes the World Patient Safety, Science and Technology Summit bringing together some of the world’s best minds for thought-provoking discussions and new ideas that challenge the status quo. By presenting specific, high-impact solutions to meet patient safety challenges, called Actionable Patient Safety Solutions, encouraging medical technology companies to share the data their products are purchased for, and asking hospitals to make commitments to implement Actionable Patient Safety Solutions, the Patient Safety Movement Foundation is working toward zero preventable deaths by 2020. Visit http://patientsafetymovement.org/

Contacts

Patient Safety Movement Foundation
Tanya Lyon, (949) 351-2858
tanya.lyon@patientsafetymovement.org

 

President Bill Clinton sat down for a question and answer session with Joe Kiani on Day Two of the 6th Annual World Patient Safety, Science & Technology Summit, Co-Convened by European Society of Anaesthesiology. (Photo: Business Wire)

President Bill Clinton sat down for a question and answer session with Joe Kiani on Day Two of the 6th Annual World Patient Safety, Science & Technology Summit, Co-Convened by European Society of Anaesthesiology. (Photo: Business Wire)