It was a good day today. It was refreshing to be around so many other people who are passionate, open, and honest about quality improvement and patient safety. There are definitely times at my home institution where I feel like I am the shirtless man trying to make my silly dance a movement. A movement for others to be so excited about improving safety they come running down the hill to join the dance with enthusiasm. Hearing the stories of patient harm that have occurred make me want to pass on the importance of quality improvement and patient safety. That whether we mean to or not we are in positions to potentially kill patients everyday and without safeguards in place it isn’t a matter of if it will happen, but when…and will you be the one to do it? I have enjoyed all the discussion with my fellow participants about the real struggles we face to change this culture and to hopefully make a future where this is the norm. Where everyone knows these skills and they are so common place that errors don’t occur and if they do, we treat them like catastrophic events that serve as a catalyst for further change.
