Patient Safety Movement Summit Postponed Due to Coronavirus Concerns
By Jay Kumar
Citing concerns about COVID-19, the Patient Safety Movement Foundation (PSMF) has postponed its 8th annual World Patient Safety, Science & Technology Summit, which was scheduled to begin on Thursday, March 5.
“We all believe in, ‘First, do no harm.’ In light of the unknowns and knowns about the Coronavirus, we feel that we have no choice but to ensure that we, the Patient Safety Movement Foundation, ‘First, do no harm,’ according to an email sent Monday afternoon to conference attendees and sponsors. “Out of an abundance of caution and to live up to our values and principles, we will be postponing the 8th Annual World Patient Safety, Science & Technology Summit. We will get everyone the new date as soon as possible.”
The email to sponsors noted that the PSMF plans to reschedule the event for later in 2020.
The summit, which was co-convened with the International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQua) and American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), and the European Society of Anesthesiology (ESA), was to bring together all stakeholder groups to discuss novel solutions to the leading challenges facing hospitals today. Attendees were to include international hospital leaders, medical and information technology companies, the patient advocacy community, public policy makers, and government officials.
The summit typically features keynote addresses from public figures and patient safety experts, and plenary sessions with healthcare luminaries, and patient advocates, as well as announcements from organizations who have made their own commitments to reach the PSMF’s goal of zero preventable deaths by 2020. This year’s event was to include more information on the PSMF’s plans post-2020.
The PSMF event is just one of many that have been canceled recently as COVID-19 has continued to spread. The virus has killed more than 3,000 people worldwide and infected nearly 89,000, with most of those cases and deaths occurring in China. Six people have died in the U.S., all in Washington state.