Nominations Open for Sherman Award for Excellence in Patient Engagement

EngagingPatients.org, an online community dedicated to sharing best practices in patient and family engagement, is now accepting nominations for the 2016 John Q. Sherman Award for Excellence in Patient Engagement.

Established in 2014, the Sherman Award is dedicated to recognizing innovative work that has resulted in better, safer care and improved outcomes by engaging patients and families in their care. The award—a partnership between EngagingPatients.org, the National Patient Safety Foundation’s (NPSF) Lucian Leape Institute, and Standard Register Healthcare—will be conferred at NPSF’s 18th annual Patient Safety Congress in Scottsdale, Arizona, on May 24, 2016. The winner will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to Scottsdale for the congress.

“Increasing attention on engaging patients and their personal support networks signals a true shift in healthcare,” said Mark O’Leary, chair of EngagingPatients.org’s advisory board and president of Standard Register Healthcare. “Each project represents an organization’s commitment to creating deep and lasting relationships by engaging and activating patients and families across the continuum of care. We hope showcasing these outstanding projects and caregivers will inspire more patient and family-centered practices.”

Named for John Q. Sherman (1882-1939), founder of Standard Register and philanthropist, the award is given to a program focused on enhancing patient and family engagement. Programs will be judged on patient and family involvement in project design and implementation, measurable results, sustainability, and reproducibility of the project.

“Patient and family engagement is essential to the delivery of safe and appropriate health care,” said Tejal K. Gandhi, MD, MPH, CPPS, president and CEO of NPSF and president of the NPSF Lucian Leape Institute. “We are pleased to collaborate with Engagingpatients.org to recognize those who have put successful practices into place to partner with patients, and this award is a wonderful way to share what they have learned.”

Nominations will be accepted through March 11. Work must have occurred between January 1, 2014, and January 31, 2016. The official nomination form and full details about criteria for the John Q. Sherman Award are available at www.EngagingPatients.org/awardsubmissions.