Improving Safety for Patients with Cancer; NCCN Safety Summit Features Peter Pronovost, MD, PhD

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) is hosting the NCCN Patient Safety Summit on October 14, 2010 featuring renowned safety expert Peter J. Pronovost, MD, PhD, of Johns Hopkins Medicine.

FORT WASHINGTON, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Patient safety has long been recognized as an integral component of quality medical care. The stakes are especially high in oncology where avoiding errors is imperative to delivering radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and other high-risk treatments. On the heels of intense media scrutiny about treatment errors, particularly related to radiation safety, The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) has convened the NCCN 2010 Patient Safety Summit featuring keynote speaker Peter J. Pronovost, MD, PhD, an internationally acclaimed leader in patient safety from Johns Hopkins Medicine. The Summit is being held in Bethesda, MD on October 14, 2010.

The NCCN 2010 Patient Safety Summit provides an opportunity for clinical, administrative, regulatory, and industry professionals to discuss best practices in oncology patient safety as well as to disseminate advances in oncology patient safety systems and processes. Radiation safety, strategies to prevent oral chemotherapy errors, safety and accountability, and the prevention of health care associated infections will be the focus of the Summit.

“To reach our ultimate goal – providing safer care to patients – we need to embrace concepts that will systematically change the culture within hospitals and enhance communication about medical errors. If we don’t talk about the problem, how can we expect to make meaningful strides against it?” says Peter J. Pronovost, MD, PhD. “I am happy to be participating in the NCCN 2010 Patient Safety Summit which provides a forum for health care teams in the oncology field to openly discuss innovative safety measures that promote honesty, respect, and teamwork among hospital staff, therefore improving the quality of care for patients.”

An advocate for empowering clinicians to speak freely and question their colleagues, one of Dr. Pronovost’s most notable contributions was the introduction of an intensive care checklist protocol that saved 1,500 lives and $100 million in the state of Michigan during its first 18 months. In addition, he recently collaborated with fellow Hopkins’ colleagues Stephanie Terezakis, MD; Eric Ford, PhD; and Joseph Herman, MD to develop a system to identify points within the radiation treatment process where the potential for errors are greatest.

The NCCN 2010 Patient Safety Summit features a robust agenda that seeks to emphasize safety risks associated with new trends and practices in radiation oncology as well as strategies and methods to overcome some of these challenges; the various roles, responsibilities, and specific actions that hospital staff, patients, and visitors may take to help reduce the frequency of patient infections; and safety challenges of oral chemotherapy, a changing paradigm in cancer treatment.

For the complete agenda and to register for the NCCN 2010 Patient Safety Summit, visit NCCN.org.

About the National Comprehensive Cancer Network

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®), a not-for-profit alliance of 21 of the world’s leading cancer centers, is dedicated to improving the quality and effectiveness of care provided to patients with cancer. Through the leadership and expertise of clinical professionals at NCCN Member Institutions, NCCN develops resources that present valuable information to the numerous stakeholders in the health care delivery system. As the arbiter of high-quality cancer care, NCCN promotes the importance of continuous quality improvement and recognizes the significance of creating clinical practice guidelines appropriate for use by patients, clinicians, and other health care decision-makers. The primary goal of all NCCN initiatives is to improve the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of oncology practice so patients can live better lives.

The NCCN Member Institutions are: City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles, CA; Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center | Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Boston, MA; Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center, Durham, NC; Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA; Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT; Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center/Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Seattle, WA; The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD; Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, Chicago, IL; Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY; H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL; The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, Columbus, OH; Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY; Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO; St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital/University of Tennessee Cancer Institute, Memphis, TN; Stanford Comprehensive Cancer Center, Stanford, CA; University of Alabama at Birmingham Comprehensive Cancer Center, Birmingham, AL; UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, San Francisco, CA; University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, Ann Arbor, MI; UNMC Eppley Cancer Center at The Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE; The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX; and Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville, TN.

For more information on NCCN, please visit NCCN.org.



CONTACT:

National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN)
Megan Martin, 215-690-0576
[email protected]

KEYWORDS:   United States  North America  Maryland  Pennsylvania

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