National Patient Safety Foundation President Tejal Gandhi to Address Senate on the Need to Improve Patient Safety
Boston, MA (PRWEB) July 16, 2014 -- National Patient Safety Foundation President Tejal K. Gandhi, MD, MPH, CPPS, will appear Thursday before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Labor, Education & Pensions, Subcommittee on Primary Health and Aging, at a hearing on patient safety titled, “More Than 1,000 Preventable Deaths a Day Is Too Many: The Need to Improve Patient Safety.”
Dr. Gandhi will enumerate some of the most prevalent and urgent patient safety issues in ambulatory care, including medication safety, missed or delayed diagnoses, and safety during transitions in care, such as when patients are discharged from the hospital to home. “Our health system includes a diverse array of ambulatory settings, and each has a unique set of safety issues,” Dr. Gandhi said. “Ultimately, we need better data in all ambulatory settings to fully understand the risks and opportunities for improvement.
“I have spent my career working to address patient safety, and I am honored to have the opportunity to speak before the Senate Subcommittee on this topic,” she added. “It is gratifying to know that national leaders are beginning to ask important questions about how we can improve the system and make health care safer for all patients.”
Thursday’s hearing will specifically address patient safety issues and will include testimony from patient safety experts and researchers as well as the patient perspective. In addition to Dr. Gandhi, the following witnesses are scheduled to appear:
-John James, PhD, Founder, Patient Safety America
-Ashish Jha, MD, MPH, Professor of Health Policy and Management, Harvard School of Public Health
-Peter Pronovost, MD, PhD, Senior Vice President for Patient Safety and Quality and Director of the Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality, Johns Hopkins Medicine
-Joanne Disch, PhD, RN, Professor ad Honorem, University of Minnesota School of Nursing
-Lisa McGiffert, Director, Safe Patient Project, Consumers Union
The hearing begins at 10 am EDT on July 17, 2014, in room 430 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, DC. Video of the proceedings will be streamed live on Sen. Sanders’s website and on the Subcommittee’s website.
About the National Patient Safety Foundation
The National Patient Safety Foundation’s vision is to create a world where patients and those who care for them are free from harm. A central voice for patient safety since 1997, NPSF partners with patients and families, the health care community, and key stakeholders to advance patient safety and health care workforce safety and disseminate strategies to prevent harm. NPSF is an independent, not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization. To learn more about the Foundation’s work, visit http://www.npsf.org.
Patricia McTiernan, National Patient Safety Foundation, http://www.npsf.org, +1 (617) 391-9922, [email protected]
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