Promoting a Culture of Safety Featured Symposium at Heart Rhythm 2012 March 12, 2012

At Heart Rhythm 2012 in Boston, Bruce L. Wilkoff, MD, FHRS, CCDS and Paul Varosy, MD, FHRS will host a featured symposium on the fundamentals of transforming intraprocedural heart rhythm care to a culture that promotes patient safety. 

The session will feature a live, interactive simulation designed to teach “safety behavior”  that is grounded in teamwork and systems, and also:

• values and empowers colleagues
• leads by example
• searches for improvement opportunities

The symposium will begin with an introduction to the fundamentals of a culture of safety from a Saul Weingart, MD, Ph.D., a national expert on reducing the burden of medical errors.

After Dr. Weingart sets the stage, Jeffrey Cooper, Ph.D., a pioneer in medical simulation, will guide colleagues through a role play of effective and ineffective ways to speak up in order to prevent a medical error.

An electrophysiologist and his colleague, who is an allied health professional, will simulate a scenario in which there is a potential radiation safety problem that will occur unless someone speaks up. The simulation will illustrate how a patient safety problem could become increasingly dangerous in the absence of teamwork.

After the medical simulation, the program will close with a call to action from an internationally recognized leader in the patient safety movement, Lucian Leape, MD, MPH. Dr. Leape, often referred to as the father of patient safety, will deliver a message on taking the next steps to carry the culture of safety into the EP lab. His call to action has resonated with clinicians for decades.

This program, session #143, will be held on Thursday May 10^th from 10:30 a.m. to noon. The Advanced Online Program Guide for Heart Rhythm 2012 is available at http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/gfb/heartrhythm2012/#/12

Kathy Blake, MD, MPH, FHRS
Chair, Health Policy Committee