Live Webinar Led by Dr. Peter Pronovost to Address Patient Safety Through a Sector-Wide Approach

Webinar will be held under the theme ‘Evolving from eliminating one harm in all hospitals to eliminating all harms across a health system’

Doha, Qatar, 13 January 2016: As part of the Leading Health Systems Network (LHSN): Safer Care Accelerator Webinar Series, Dr. Peter Pronovost, Director of the Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality at Johns Hopkins, will lead a live webinar broadcast to address patient safety on January 13, 2016 at 14:00 GMT.

Dr. Pronovost, a global leader on patient safety, was the principal author of the WISH report titled ‘Transforming Patient Safety: A Sector-Wide Systems Approach’. The report was distributed during the 2015 World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH), a global initiative of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (QF), and has since been presented to thousands of clinical leaders around the world.

The live webinar will be open to all members of the Leading Health Systems Network (LHSN), a collaborative of 15 health systems from five continents, launched at WISH last year, all dedicated to reducing harm to patients. The webinar’s theme is “Evolving from eliminating one harm in all hospitals to eliminating all harms across a health system’. In it, Dr. Pronovost will make a case for approaching patient safety with the same systematic rigor and discipline as seen in other industries and sectors, most notably aviation and defense.

Commenting on the topic, Dr. Pronovost said: “There needs to be a shift away from tackling single events related to patient safety towards addressing the issue on a system-level. During this webinar, I will discuss how to design governance, quality management structures, technology systems, and a leadership culture that eliminate harm across an entire system.”
WISH plans to hold the third edition of its health policy summit from 29th to 30 November, 2016 in Doha, Qatar. Patient safety will be on the agenda with an update of the LHSN work on the Safer Care Accelerator, a collaboration of international health systems to improve patient safety reporting and outcomes.

“Healthcare has cherry -picked safety ideas from other sectors but has not yet committed to designing a system that is explicitly safe. In healthcare, we expect clinicians to do 80% of the safety work and the system does 20. In aviation, nuclear energy, defence, it is reversed – the system does 80% of the system work and frontline staff are doing 20% of it. Healthcare still lags behind in comparison to the safety records of other high-risk industries,” said WISH’s Chief Executive Officer Egbert Schillings.

“Medicine performs miracles – heals hearts, mends minds, even cures certain cancers. Yet medicine causes harm – a lot of it. We do not really know for sure how much harm but, frankly, we should. Building on the 2015 WISH report, Peter’s webinar will provide innovative approaches to enhancing patient safety, backed by solid evidence. This will enable policymakers to prioritise patient safety within their health systems, leading to reduced patient harm and more cost-effective healthcare,” Mr. Schillings added.
WISH brings together thousands of high-level policymakers, academics, and professionals across the year, and has evolved into a significant platform for the dissemination of healthcare innovation and best practices. It is aligned with QF’s mission to reinforce Qatar’s pioneering role as an emerging center for healthcare innovation while also unlocking human potential.

The upcoming 2016 Summit will feature six groundbreaking research forums that highlight and address some of the world’s most pressing healthcare challenges. Chaired by internationally renowned experts, the forums will generate interdisciplinary, evidence-based reports on topics including Autism, Behavioral Insights, Cardiovascular Disease, the Economic Benefits of Investing in Health, Healthy Populations, and Precision Medicine. For the first time, WISH will also report on its ongoing impact locally and globally on issues previously highlighted at WISH, such as Diabetes, Accountable Care, and Patient Safety.

WISH held its second summit in February 2015, bringing together more than 1,200 delegates from 93 countries to discuss and debate practical, lasting, and innovative solutions to global healthcare challenges. WISH remains closely aligned to the vision of Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation.
For further information about WISH, please visit www.wish-qatar.organd Twitter @WISH_Qatar

ENDS

About the World Innovation Summit for Health

The World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH) is a global healthcare community dedicated to capturing and disseminating the best evidence-based ideas and practices. WISH is an initiative of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (QF) and is under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, its Chairperson.

The inaugural WISH Summit took place in Doha in 2013 and convened more than 1,000 global healthcare leaders. Through international summits and a range of on-going initiatives, WISH is creating a global community of leading innovators in healthcare policy, research and industry.
Together, they are harnessing the power of innovation to overcome the world’s most urgent healthcare challenges and inspire other stakeholders to action.

Qatar Foundation – Unlocking Human Potential

Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development is a private, non-profit organisation that is supporting Qatar on its journey from a carbon economy to knowledge economy by unlocking human potential for the benefit of not only Qatar, but the world. Founded in 1995 by His Highness Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, the Father Amir of Qatar, QF is chaired by Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser.

QF carries out its mission through three strategic pillars: education, science and research, and community development. QF’s education pillar brings world-class universities to Qatar to help create an education sector in which young people can develop the attitudes and skills required for a knowledge economy. Meanwhile, its science and research pillar builds Qatar’s innovation and technology capacity by developing and commercialising solutions through key sciences. Finally, its community development pillar helps foster a progressive society while also enhancing cultural life, protecting Qatar’s heritage and addressing immediate social needs in the community.

For a complete list of QF’s initiatives and projects, visit http://www.qf.org.qa
For more information about Qatar Foundation please contact our press office at: pressoffice@qf.org.qa