PSMF launches Hospital Mentor Program

The Patient Safety Movement Foundation officially launchedits new Hospital Mentor Program at the 7th Annual World Patient Safety, Science& Technology Summit in January when 14 doctors from the Taiwan PatientSafety Culture Club visited UCI Health in Orange, California. The HospitalMentor Program connects hospitals from around the world to PSMF’s network offive-star medical facilities, providing them opportunities to “mentor” oneanother in proven patient safety processes. UCI Health is the first academicmedical center to gain points to become a five-star hospital. UCI Health hasmade 30 commitments around the PSMF’s Actionable Patient Safety Solutions(APSS).

The group of Taiwanese doctors was led by Dr. Chan Liao Mingi, a PSMF Regional Network Chair and founder of Taiwan’s preeminent patient safety organization, the Taiwan Patient Safety Culture Club. They were greeted by Dr. William Wilson, chief medical officer, and Pat Patton, chief nursing officer, at UCI Health. The day-long visit consisted of a series of lectures on patient safety and quality lessons Dr. Wilson and his staff had learned on their road to becoming a five-star hospital. Keynote presentations were followed up with questions and conversations. Afterwards, the Taiwanese doctors were given a chance to further review UCI Health’s initiatives to implement its commitments to the PSMF, particularly in the area of healthcare-associated infections, and to tour the hospital’s facilities.

“Dr. Liao’s team was very engaged and reported keen interestin incorporating many of our practices in their own hospitals,” said Dr. Wilson.The information exchange was bidirectional, as we too learned a number oflessons from the Taiwanese delegation. As a five-star hospital within thePatient Safety Movement’s network, we are truly honored to share thisexperience. Our team fully believes ZERO is possible.”

“The hospital tour was an eye-opener for many of us,” saidDr. Liao, founder of the Taiwan Patient Safety Culture Club. “We wereparticularly impressed with the facility and their insights into how their teamaccomplished the five-star ranking status as part of the journey toward highreliability. The information they presented to us was very helpful. UCI hastruly set a benchmark for how other committed hospitals can work towardplanning for zero.”

How the HospitalMentor Program Works

Any low- to middle-resource hospital interested in joiningthe Hospital Mentor Program (Hospital A) can initiate the process byidentifying a high-resource hospital within the PSMF’s network that they wouldlike to be matched with (Hospital B). Once the requested Hospital B agrees tothe match, the PSMF will schedule a conference call with hospital executivesfrom both facilities to determine which areas of patient safety Hospital A islooking to improve.

Hospital B’s executive leadership then prioritizes thechallenges their hospital would like to focus on in alignment with the PSMF’s18 overarching patient safety challenges and Actionable Patient SafetySolutions. Three consecutive video or conference calls will be scheduled,depending on the need and availability, to hone in on each patient safetypriority, with input from key hospital stakeholders (e.g., unit directors,nursing management, pharmacy, etc.).

After both parties meet by video and/or conference call tocreate an action plan, an in-person meeting will be scheduled for bothhospitals to visit and discuss implementation. If time allows, both parties mayschedule a tour of Hospital B to walk through successful patient safetyprocesses already in place. Once this stage of the mentoring is complete, thePSMF will interview the leadership of both hospitals to share the learningswith the Patient Safety Movement Foundation network.

For questions about the program or to participate, please contact  Sarah Miller, partnerships manager.