I love this quote from Jack Gentry, the man who’s life was completely changed after he was paralyzed during a cervical spine surgery. It shows that ultimately Jack felt empowered by an organization totally dedicated to correcting its mistakes and supporting victims of medical errors. That quote encapsulates everything that is good and right about CANDOR and the Seven Pillars approach. Instead of spending years in courts in an adversarial relationship with a hospital system that inadvertently caused him harm, he became one of their greatest collaborators and continues to work to make MedStar safer.
Everyone had such great, achievable plans to increase patient safety and quality improvement awareness at their own institutions – please keep us all updated with your progress! I hope you all find your first follower or become a first follower of a colleague whose vision aligns with yours. It takes a lot of trust to make a safety or quality improvement initiative succeed (and even get off the ground): trust on the part of the hospital administration that the endeavor will be worthwhile, trust on the part of the participants that their time won’t be wasted and that they are contributing to something that will have a positive impact on the hospital and patients, trust in yourself that you have the time and ability to get everything done, etc. etc. Regular communication, feedback, flexibility, and true collaboration are crucial. If someone has already started work on a project you’re passionate about, meet with them to see if/how you can partner and pool resources. As Dave and Tim mentioned today, we don’t compete on safety. And as Kelly said, make sure your hard work is shared in some public forum so others may learn.
Good luck to everyone going forward, I was so inspired and energized by all of you. Let’s get this show on the road!