Medication Safety: A Patient's Story

Helen Haskell, the founder and president of Mothers Against Medical Error, shared the story of her son, Lewis Blackman, at the conference "Improving Medication Safety Through Effective Communication and Teamwork." Patient safety experts have long agreed that medication errors are the single most frequent source of preventable error. Additionally, creating a culture of patient safety requires strong teamwork and effective communication between healthcare providers, yet there is often not enough attention devoted to developing these skills. The NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) and CIR's Policy and Education Initiative (PEI) sponsored the one-day conference on November 30, 2011, bringing together 160 healthcare professionals from all 11 hospitals in the HHC system. The conference focused on a team and systems-based approach to reducing medication errors, with emphasis on the use of opioid and effective pain management. It was co-sponsored by 1199 SEIU and funded by the Federal Medication and Conciliation Service and the CIR Patient Care Trust Fund. Learn more at cir.seiu.org/policy