Welcome 2012 Telluride Scholars

Eighth Annual Telluride Patient Safety Roundtables and Summer Camps

June 11th – June 14th, 2012

June 18th – June 21st, 2012

June 25th – June 28th, 2012

Over the last seven years, interprofessional leaders from the AMA, ANA, Joint Commission, NBME, ACGME, Lucian Leape Institute, patient safety, informatics, simulation and health science education have come together with students, resident physicians and patient advocates in beautiful Telluride, Colorado to address current patient safety educational issues.

Through the generous support of The Doctors Company Foundation, COPIC, the Committee of Interns and Residents, MedStar Health and the UIC Institute for Patient Safety Excellence, we will have three separate weeks of patient safety summer camps for residents and students. These organizations have provided funding that allows us to bring twenty resident physicians and forty-five medical students to Telluride in 2012, to engage with leaders and educators in patient safety. The students and resident physicians from across the country applied for these scholarships, and were selected because of their extensive leadership experience and passion for patient safety.

The theme of our work this year which starts tomorrow will be “The Power of Change Agents: Teaching Caregivers Effective Communication Skills to Overcome the Multiple Barriers to Patient Safety and Transparency”. Each week will focus on issues and barriers related to open, honest and professional communication between caregivers, patients and family members when unanticipated outcomes occur.

Over the next three weeks, we will be sharing the learning, consensus and reflections that come for our daily work and activities. We hope you find it educating and enlightening.

Telluride Patient Safety Roundtable and Summer Camp Vision:

To create an annual patient safety retreat and educational summer camp where experts in patient safety and health science education come together with patient advocates and healthcare trainees in a relaxed and informal setting to discuss, develop and refine health science education that supports a culture of patient safety, transparency and optimal outcomes in patient care.

Program Leaders: David Mayer MD and Tim McDonald MD JD

Telluride Roundtable and Summer Camp Objectives:

By the end of the Patient Safety Summer Camp, participants will be able to:

1.)    Describe in-depth at least three reasons why open, honest and professional communication between caregivers, patients and family members is critical to the patient safety, transparency and reducing risk in healthcare.

2.)    Utilize effective tools and strategies to lead change specific to reducing patient harm and improving communication between caregivers and their patients.

3.)    Implement, lead and successfully complete a Safety/QI project at their institution over the next twelve months.