As many of us begin our regular summer pilgrimage to Telluride, Colorado, it is hard to believe that thirteen years have passed since a small group of passionate healthcare leaders came together in Telluride to design a comprehensive patient safety curriculum for future healthcare leaders. As a result of that work, many wonderful and highly committed patient advocates and safety leaders will once again convene in Telluride the next two weeks to continue our mission of Educating the Young. For those not from Colorado, summertime in Telluride may be one of the best kept secrets in the United States. Be it the old west feel of the town, or the hypoxic “magic” that happens at an elevation of 9,500 feet, Telluride has always been an educational mecca for everyone that joins us during these memorable weeks of high altitude learning led by the MedStar Institute for Quality and Safety and the Academy for Emerging Leaders in Patient Safety (AELPS).
Over the past thirteen years, about 1,000 students and resident physicians from across the world have attended one of our AELPS Telluride Experience workshops. Many of our past alumni have gone on to lead work that has inspired real change at their home institutions–change that is helping make care safer and more transparent. We look forward to meeting yet another class of emerging patient safety leaders these two weeks who will also stand up for patients, transparency and a true culture of safety during their careers.
Through the generous support of The Doctors Company Foundation (TDCF), Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR), COPIC and MedStar Health, about 180 health science students and resident physician leaders will be attending one of four, week-long Patient Safety Summer Camps being held in the United States this summer. The US camps are held each year in Telluride CO, Baltimore MD, and Napa CA. In addition, another 100 future healthcare leaders will be attending one of our AELPS International Patient Safety Summer Camps this year in Sydney, Australia and Doha, Qatar.
A new generation of caregivers – young physicians, nurses, pharmacists and other allied health professionals – are stepping up and starting to make a difference in healthcare. Many of them understand and appreciate they will soon be the gatekeepers for safe, high quality, high value patient care. They are taking this responsibility seriously – more seriously than I and my colleagues did when we were their age. These young leaders are the future of healthcare…and the future is bright.
We hope you will follow our activities and learnings through our student, resident and faculty blogs, found here on ETY or The Telluride Blog, found here. Please comment and join our conversation on the blogs or on Twitter (@TPSSC and #AELPS13).