Disclosure, Apology, and Resolution—No Turning Back Now

Rick Boothman has been thinking about when he knew that the University of Michigan Health System, where he is executive director of clinical safety, had reached the “point of no return” about openly discussing preventable harm with patients. In his keynote to the MITSS Annual Dinner in November, Boothman explained that he had been struck by something he heard during a meeting in Washington, which led him to reflect on Michigan’s commitment to this approach.

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Grant Funding Available from AHRQ for Patient Safety Learning Laboratories

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) invites applications for funding to support the creation of “patient safety learning laboratories,” described by AHRQ as “places and professional networks where interrelated threats to patient safety can be identified, where multidisciplinary teams generate new ways of thinking with respect to the threats, and where environments are established conducive to brainstorming and rapid prototyping techniques that stimulate further thinking.”

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Competition Opens for Young Physicians Patient Safety Award

Entries are now being accepted for the 2014 Young Physicians Patient Safety Award, The Doctors Company Foundation announced. Medical students and residents are eligible to compete for six $5,000 awards. Winners will also receive travel to the Association of American Medical College’s Integrating Quality meeting in Chicago June 12–13, 2014, where the awards will be presented.

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HRET to Develop Toolkit Based on Medical Liability Reform Successes

The Health Research & Educational Trust (HRET) of the American Hospital Association (AHA) has been awarded a contract by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to develop a comprehensive patient safety and medical liability communication and resolution resource toolkit. The toolkit will promote communication between patients, doctors and hospitals to improve the quality of care, reduce preventable injuries and ensure timely and appropriate restitution when harm results from care.

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