AkkeNeel Talsma, PhD, RN, FAAN is Assistant Professor of Nursing and Research Investigator in the School of Medicine, University of Michigan.and a graduate of the University of Michigan School of Nursing. She has worked for over fifteen years in performance improvement and optimizing patient outcomes and hospital interests. Her expertise ranges from implementing and successfully improving The Joint Commission (TJC) Core Measures, testing and measuring Patient Safety Indicator, and reviewing patient medical records to understand the healthcare delivery processes and how that related to outcomes.
Dr. Talsma has worked in healthcare industry as well as academic environments to improve measurement and outcomes of quality of patient care. She has gained extensive expertise from working in a range of organizations, including insurance, information technology, and an academic medical center. She has gained a reputation for using existing data elements for improvement of patient outcomes. Investigating the trajectory of patients included in the Failure to rescue measure highlighted the need for surveillance, through advanced technology and well prepared clinicians, and early interventions to help prevent exacerbation of patient complications.
Dr. Talsma pioneered using early versions of electronic medical records to flag cases that did not receive recommended practices (O’Reilly, 2005) or missed particular processes of care that might increase the risk of ventilator associated pneumonia (Wahl, 2005). This approach has most recently led to a “Pressure Ulcer Daily” nurses use to trend patterns and successfully identify patients at risk (Talsma, 2011). Dr. Talsma is currently involved in evaluating non-invasive technology that could be used to help prevent the development of pressure ulcers and prevention of adverse events originating in the OR.
Her research focuses on effective and efficient health care processes and optimum patient and hospital outcomes. Dr. Talsma is Director of the Perioperative Outcomes Initiative (POI), www.poi-cqi.org, a collaborative quality initiative (CQI) that consists of an innovative network of 18 hospitals in Michigan aiming to improve patient outcomes after surgeries. POI obtains perioperative process data from electronic medical records and collaborates with hospitals to optimize patient outcomes and hospital interest. Current improvement efforts include: preoperative assessment (including time outs), skin preparation, OR staffing arrangement, instrument/sponge count discrepancies, OR throughput and patient flow. Hospitals use the data for benchmarking, internal improvements, and evaluation of implementation efforts.
The Perioperative Outcomes Initiative is supported by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM) and Blue Care Network (BCN). POI is aligned with the Michigan Surgical Quality Collaborative (MSQC) at the University of Michigan.
Dr. Stoelting is a 1964 graduate of Indiana University School of Medicine. He was a resident in anesthesia at the University of California School of Medicine, San Francisco, California from 1965-1968. Following completion of his residency, Dr. Stoelting served as a Clinical Associate in Anesthesia for 2 years at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland. He joined the faculty of the Department of Anesthesia, Indiana University School of Medicine in 1970 and became Professor and Chair of the Department in September 1977.
Dr. Stoelting is the author or co-author of more than 100 peer review publications. He is the author of the textbook Pharmacology and Physiology in Anesthetic practice, co-author of the textbooks Basics of Anesthesia and Anesthesia and Co-Existing Disease, and co-editor of the textbook Clinical Anesthesia.
Dr. Stoelting served on the editorial board of Anesthesia and Analgesia from 1974-1984 and was a member of the board of Trustees of the International Anesthesia Research Society from 1975-1993. He was a member of the editorial board of the Year Book of Anesthesia from 1983-1994 and served as Editor-in-Chief of Advances in Anesthesia from 1982-1992.
Dr. Stoelting is a Diplomate of the American Board of Anesthesiology and has participated in the Board’s certification process as an Associate Examiner from 1974 to 2002. He was elected a Director of the American Board of Anesthesiology in 1980 and served as Secretary-Treasurer from 1989-1991 and as President in 1992.
Dr. Stoelting was a member of the Residency Review Committee for Anesthesia from 1983-1989 and served as Chair from 1988-1989. He was appointed to the Anesthesia and Life Support Drugs Advisory Committee of the Food and Drug Administration in 1984 and served as Chair from 1986-1988.
In 1994, Dr. Stoelting was elected Vice-President for Scientific Affairs of the American Society of Anesthesiologists. He was re-elected to this office in 1995 and 1996. In 1997, Dr. Stoelting was elected President of the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation.
On June 30, 2003 Dr. Stoelting “retired” as Chair of the Department of Anesthesia to become full-time as President of the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation with offices located in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Richard Afable, M.D., M.P.H., is President and Chief Executive Officer of St. Joseph Hoag Health, a Southern California integrated delivery system created by the affiliation of St. Joseph Health and Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian. St. Joseph Hoag Health is comprised of seven hospitals, an expansive physician network, and numerous ambulatory sites throughout Orange County, California, and the High Desert.
Dr. Afable is also Executive Vice President and Regional Senior Executive for Providence St. Joseph Health in Southern California. Prior to the creation of St. Joseph Hoag Health, Dr. Afable was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian. Formerly, he was Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Catholic Health East, an east coast health system comprised of 31 acute-care hospitals and 47 long-term care facilities.
Before joining Catholic Health East, Dr. Afable was the founder and President/CEO of Preferred Physician Partners, an Ohio-based physician practice management company. A board-certified internist and geriatrician, he practiced clinical medicine for more than 15 years, in private practice and as Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago, and as an Associate Professor of Medicine at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
