Welcome to the Sixth Annual Patient Safety Roundtable in Telluride, CO – an annual retreat for those of us working to help make healthcare safer through education. This year’s work will focus on open and honest communication skills in healthcare, addressing the barriers surrounding transparency from informed consent through the continuum of care when unintentional harm occurs. As we wait for this year’s Roundtable to begin, the sun has already begun to peek over the beautiful Telluride valley and the southern Colorado Mountains, signaling the start of another beautiful Rocky Mountain summer day.
Through the generous support of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), eighteen students from medicine, nursing, public health, pharmacy and law will be joining us in our work this year. To kick off the Roundtable, we will share with attendees the award winning film, The Faces of Medical Error… From Tears to Transparency: The Story of Lewis Blackman followed by a discussion led by Lewis Blackman’s mom, Helen Haskell, author Rosemary Gibson, Tim McDonald and myself.
After the film, we will tackle the important concepts of self-awareness and emotional intelligence and reinforce the importance of mindfulness when faced with uncertain conditions. All of our work will be done in small groups with the goal of building consensus on best practices for education around these important patient safety domains.
Our smaller, roundtable format is designed to foster creative thought and collaboration through lively conversation in a relaxed and informal setting. Sponsored by the Telluride Scientific Research Center (TSRC), this very popular format attracts leaders from around the world to Telluride each summer to “break bread” and share ideas on current issues and challenges in science and healthcare. They come to be reminded of the joy of learning and discovery.
Please follow us on our blog this week and after you return home. We will post regular updates on our work at the Roundtable this week. We welcome your comments and hope to make the Transparent Health blog a place for lively discussion on open and honest communication in healthcare – the foundation for a truly transparent and safe healthcare environment.
Thank you for joining Tim and I this week in Telluride. Enjoy the environment, and let the beauty of the mountains stimulate creative thinking