Dear PatientAiders,
I’m looking forward to seeing you at the 8th Annual World Patient Safety, Science & Technology Summit on March 6 and 7. I can’t believe how fast 8 years have passed but I am grateful that together we’ve been able to make progress during this time. I can’t help but reflect on when we started planning for the first Summit, not knowing how it would go. Wondering if anyone would attend if anyone would commit and if our efforts would save even one life, let alone the estimated 200,000 lives lost each year in the US. Not only did you show up, but you showed up from all parts of our beautiful planet, and our first gathering began a movement that now spans the globe and has galvanized so much positive change. While our goal of zero turned out to be unattainable by 2020, I believe ZERO is attainable. Just look at the hospitals that have achieved it, like my home town’s Children’s Hospital of Orange County.
This is my last letter to you as Chairman before my friend and fellow PatientAider, Dr. Michael Ramsay, takes over the role of Chairman of the Patient Safety Movement Foundation. Last year, my friend and fellow PatientAider, Dr. Dave Mayer, took on the role of CEO and has done an amazing job. While I had hoped to be at ZERO by this upcoming summit and no longer have the need for our movement, I could have never imagined we’d have such an amazing organization made up of passionate, intelligent, smart and kind people who are eager to continue our mission of zero.
Our path is clear, each one of us needs to own patient safety and lead. We must also push for our political and academic leaders to hardwire patient safety by aligning incentives to eliminate preventable deaths, be transparent about harm, and train our future healthcare professionals on how to plan for zero preventable harm.
If you haven’t yet registered to join us at our 2020 Summit, please do so now. We want to make sure you have the opportunity to hear what we have planned for the future as we set our sights for the next decade and put an end to preventable patient harm.
Joe Kiani
Founder & Chairman
Patient Safety Movement Foundation