Best Practices for Engaging Patients and Their Families to be Discussed on Upcoming Patient Safety Webinar 

Washington, DC – Don Berwick, MD, administrator, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, will participate in an upcoming patient safety webinar addressing tactics for effectively engaging patients and their families in systems of care at the senior leadership level.   Participants also will hear a joint presentation from Robert and Barbara Malizzo, a family who was affected by a medical error, and Tim McDonald, a chief safety officer, about the power of working collaboratively with patients and families to achieve patient safety goals. In addition, Carolyn Clancy, director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, will provide an overview of the National Priorities Partnership’s (NPP) recent activities in patient safety. The webinar builds on the recent national Partnership for Patients-NPP Patient Safety Webinar Series. 

“Engaging Patients and Their Families” extends key themes established during the first part of the ongoing series hosted by NPP—which is convened by the National Quality Forum (NQF)—and the Department of Health and Human Services. The interactive webinar will take place on November 17 from 12:30pm to 2:00pm ET. Advance registration for the event is recommended and is available now online. 

The webinar will feature speakers Don Berwick, MD, administrator, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services; Carolyn Clancy, MD, director, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and NPP Partner; Tim McDonald, MD, chief safety and risk officer for Health Affairs, University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago; and Robert and Barbara Malizzo, members, medical staff review board, University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago, and patient advocates.

Participants will be able to interact with the speakers through live chat, and web polling questions will provide real-time information about work currently under way in patient care communities to actively engage patients and their families in their healthcare.

With each of these sessions, national experts will present effective solutions and provide a follow-up discussion about how to realize these solutions nationally. The webinar series will be available for audio streaming free of charge. Space is limited, and advance registration is recommended to ensure real-time participation. All webinars will be recorded, archived, and made available on NQF’s website after each event.

Archived webinars include:

• “An Overview of the Partnership for Patients and Getting Started in Your Organization” 
• “Reducing Admissions Through Care Transitions” 
• “Preventing Adverse Drug Events” 
• “Reducing Infections in the Intensive Care Unit” 
• “Decreasing Surgical Site Infections” 
• “Preventing Pressure Ulcers and Falls in Healthcare Settings”
• “Addressing Obstetrical Adverse Events” 
• “Averting Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) and Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTI)” 

Learn more about this webinar series and register for the “Engaging Patients and Their Families” event. To learn more about the Partnership for Patients pledge, please visit its website. Learn about other activities and programs at NQF to enhance patient safety.

The National Priorities Partnership, convened by the National Quality Forum, is a multi-stakeholder group including organizations representing the interests of consumers, purchasers, healthcare providers and professionals, state-based associations, community collaborative and regional alliances, government agencies, health plans, accreditation and certification bodies, and supplier and industry groups. To learn more, please visit: http://www.qualityforum.org/Setting_Priorities/NPP/National_Priorities_Partnership.aspx