I’m currently on the plane ride to Colorado for the wonderful week to come! I just finished reading Why Hospitals Should Fly, and it seemed fitting to have finished the book on an airplane when aviation is so often looked towards as a model for healthcare process improvement and patient safety. I chose to apply for the Telluride Experience for many reasons. I am very excited to learn from and work with health science students, nursing students, residents, and physicians. So far in medical school, I have had limited opportunity to truly collaborate with anyone other than my peers. I know I will learn so much from the diverse and rich experiences from all the students and practitioners that will be in Breckenridge. I am also eager to hear from the organizers and other attendees about the path to leadership in patient safety. I know that their paths will be so valuable in helping me sort through the wide breadth of career options and find how leadership in patient safety can be incorporated into a variety of these settings.
I believe that patient safety is integral to good patient care because the core of medical care is to preserve and promote the wellbeing of patients. Without a culture of safety, we expose ourselves to directly contradicting this core principle. Without the entire healthcare team working towards this goal together, we won’t be able to provide the safe environment and care that patients in a healthcare system deserve. Good patient care is made up of a multitude of factors, some of which are patient comfort, evidence-based medical care, and a compassionate healthcare team. A culture of safety promotes these factors by prioritizing team-based, standardized care under a united front to serving our patients. In addition to good patient care, a culture of safety promotes overall efficiency of the healthcare system. Preventing errors and misunderstandings encourages time and cost efficiency which further rewards healthcare providers and administrators to invest in a culture of safety. Through the Telluride Experience, I hope to learn how to work towards this positive feedback loop.
This next week will undoubtedly be unlike any other patient safety and quality improvement experience I have had so far. I am looking forward to sharing my few months of clinical experiences with fellow attendees of the Telluride Experience. I am so excited to learn how to champion and implement a culture of safety. I am looking forward to hearing from experts who have been passionate about these ideas for decades. I want to learn what has been tried, what works and what doesn’t, and how I can help in the steady and expanding march towards perfectly safe healthcare for all. I am so excited for the next week!!