Lewis Blackman Film Discussion Day 1 – Marseille
Student scholars and medical education leaders joined in a group discussion after watching the film that shed light on areas of opportunity in healthcare across the country. Comments touched on the over-arching failure of leadership that led to the communication breakdown in Lewis’ case and the national need to empower students, interns and nurses to ask the necessary questions to keep patients safe today. When no one is willing to say “I don’t know” the patient is at risk. Lewis and his mom, Helen Haskell, whose life’s work has become keeping all of us safe in the hospital, paid the ultimate price for the inability to exchange three simple words.
What can be done to create a culture starting in medical school that welcomes these questions, allows providers to maintain belief in their abilities while still doubting an initial diagnosis and communicate with one another openly, transparently and with respectful professionalism?
“The Faces of Medical Error from Tears to Transparency” film kicks off Marseille Patient Safety Roundtable
The patient safety film “The Faces of Medical Error from Tears to Transparency…The Story of Lewis Blackman” was shown this morning to international patient safety leaders, patient advocates, medical educators and 20 medical student leaders from across the US. The award winning film kicked off the Seventh Annual Marseille Patient Safety Educaitonal Roundtable. This years Roundtable continues the discussions and consensus building from the previous two years on the need for Open, Honest and Professional Communication between caregivers and patients/families related to unanticipated patient care outcomes. Helen Haskell, the mother of Lewis Blackman, along with Tim McDonald and Dave Mayer led interactive discussions with attendees after the film on (1) why honest communication in healthcare has been lacking and (2) the positive changes that have been observed by health sytems who have adopted a… Continue reading
Moving Ahead!
These are exciting times for Transparent Health – in the past few months we have seen the effectiveness of the “Story of Lewis Blackman” in a variety of educational settings – from the closing plenary at the National Patient Safety Foundation annual meeting to the new resident physician orientation at the University of Illinois at Chicago where over 250 new residents and interns watched the movie and reflected upon it with dozens of other health care professionals.
The key to improvement on Patient Safety and Quality relies on transparent, effective, and honest communication between care professionals with patients and their families from the beginning of the patient’s first encounter with a professional or an institution. We feel fortunate to be able to play a role with our colleagues and friends in the dissemination of that critical message.
The past Sixth Annual Marseille Patient Safety curricula meeting helped further… Continue reading
Skolnik Medical Transparency Expansion Bill Expands Information Available To Patients
On June 10th of this year, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter signed Senate Bill 124, better known as the Michael Skolnik Medical Transparency Expansion Bill, enlarging the circle of healthcare professionals in the state of Colorado that must make available all information related to their training, qualifications, criminal, disciplinary and malpractice history to healthcare consumers.
In 2007, Senator Morgan Carroll of Colorado, along with Patty and David Skolnik, championed the original Michael Skolnik Medical Transparency Act (HB 07-1331). This bill requires physicians in Colorado to report education, certain business relationships, malpractice involvement, and any disciplinary action or crimes. The bill is named after Patty and David’s son Michael, whose needless death at twenty-five years-old was the result of a surgery where related information was not disclosed to the family. Since Michael’s death in 2004, his mother, Patty Skolnik, has fought for greater transparency in healthcare. The expansion bill, passed earlier this… Continue reading
McDonald, Mayer and UIC Awarded AHRQ Grant to Further Patient Safety Efforts
On June 11, the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) awarded a number of grants to support State and health systems in their efforts to implement and evaluate patient safety approaches and medical liability reform. Transparent Health Co-Founders, Tim McDonald MD and Dave Mayer MD, along with the University of Illinois at Chicago, are the Principal, and Co-Investigator respectively, on one of the largest remunerated demonstration and planning grants recently awarded by AHRQ, a part of President Barack Obama’s patient safety and medical liability initiative announced last year. See press release for additional details.
“As Co-Executive Directors of the University of Illinois at Chicago Institute for Patient Safety Excellence [UIC IPSE], Dave Mayer and I feel highly honored that our grant proposal: The Seven Pillars: Bridging the Patient Safety – Medical Liability Chasm received notice of $3M in funding from AHRQ,”… Continue reading
Visitors and Guests
In May, our newly appointed leader of CMS, Dr. Don Berwick, gave the graduation address at Yale University Medical School where his daughter was entering the ranks of newly anointed physicians. The graduation address has all but gone viral, making its way to those of us in Chicago so interested to hear the heart-felt health care experiences Dr. Berwick shares whenever he speaks. While the entire address was quite moving, what struck me most was the humility with which he views his profession, and his place within the circle of doctor-patient involvement. Here is an excerpt that I found particularly moving and speaks to the importance of delivering health care in a way that puts the patient first:
…What is at stake here may seem a small thing in the face of the enormous health care world you have joined. It is as a nickel to the $2.6 trillion industry.… Continue reading
Use of IT Improvements to Facilitate Open, Honest Communication Requires Education
At the Bear Creek waterfall on Wednesday
Today was the midpoint of our Marseille Roundtable on “Open and Honest Communication Skills in Healthcare”. After two full days of discussion, discovery and curriculum building, many participants shared a group hike up the mountain to Bear Creek waterfalls. The scenery was magnificent and the two-hour climb provided hikers a great opportunity to reflect on the first two days of work while continuing discussions on open and honest communication issues before reconvening in our classroom for the afternoon working session. Participants were still feeling the excitement and energy generated from Tuesday’s sessions on shared decision-making and open disclosure education.
Our afternoon session focused on newer information technology (IT) platforms that could support open and honest communication skills in healthcare. After discussing the impact of informatics on patient safety (both positive and negative), discussion turned to how IT can support (and not replace)… Continue reading
Welcome to Marseille!
Welcome to the Sixth Annual Patient Safety Roundtable in Marseille, 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 Marseille 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:… Continue reading
The Story of Lewis Blackman Awarded Highest Honor by Filmmaking Peers
In addition to providing an unforgettable learning experience for health care providers, Lewis Blackman continues to touch the hearts of all who hear his story. Most recently, The Faces of Medical Error…From Tears to Transparency: The Story of Lewis Blackman, was awarded a 2009 Aegis Award—a worldwide film industry honor given to the very best film and video productions of the year. Of the 2,109 entries, The Lewis Blackman Story received top honors, achieving the highest score awarded by a panel of peer judges.
Greg Vass, Executive Producer at SolidLine Media and partner to Transparent Health in the creation of the film said, “It always feels great to be recognized as the best in our field, but I think it feels even better to be part of such a special production project—one that is truly changing healthcare.”
For all of us at Transparent Health, the journey of making this educational… Continue reading