Why bother to teach patient safety before graduation?

Groups related to this event

Centre for Health Informatics
Centre for Health Systems and Safety Research
Centre for Healthcare Resilience and Implementation Science

Event date

Tuesday, 21 July 2015

Abstract

It is accepted that patient safety could be considerably improved. This would save lives, reduce morbidity and reduce health costs. The Quality in Australian Healthcare Study found that 16.6% of hospital admissions were associated with an “adverse event” and that half of these were preventable. This figure is consistent with international studies. How can we reduce this? If we wait until health professional students have graduated, we may have waited too long. Many of their more senior supervisors, teachers and role models, while excellent clinicians, may not be aware of the concepts, borrowed from the airline, mining and nuclear industries that can be used to improve quality of care and reduce error. The place to start is in the undergraduate years, but the teaching must be interactive and stimulating.

The program developed at the Clinical Excellence Commission is now taught in five medical, two nursing and one allied health school. It is interactive and involves small discussion groups of clinical scenarios. It is supplemented by opportunities for students to do patient safety electives and a program for trainee consultant physicians who want to learn how to do Clinical Practice Improvement projects in their workplaces.

Kim Oates MD, DSc, MHP, FRACP, FRCP is Director of Undergraduate Quality and Safety at the Clinical Excellence Commission, Sydney, Australia. He held the Chair of Paediatrics and Child Health at the University of Sydney from 1985 to 1997 and was simultaneously Chair of the Division of Medicine at the Children’s Hospital in Sydney. He was Chief Executive of the Children’s Hospital from 1997 to 2006, a position which strengthened his passion for patient safety. His is Emeritus Professor at the University of Sydney where he is involved in curriculum development as well as teaching new concepts in medicine (including quality and safety) to recent medical graduates identified as future leaders in Vietnam. At the Clinical Excellence Commission he has been responsible for introducing Patient Safety teaching to five medical schools, 3 nursing schools and one school of allied health. He has written or edited 14 books and has over 300 publications. He has received a range of international and national awards for research and for advocacy on behalf of children.

Date: Tuesday 21 July, 2015

Time: 12noon to 1pm

Venue: Seminar Room Level 1, 75 Talavera Rd Macquarie University

Chairperson: Professor Jeffrey Braithwaite