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03/12/2021

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We are all patients: The importance of patient safety

Patient Safety Awareness Week is a time every year that we set aside to recognize the importance of patient safety. The TeamHealth Patient Safety Organization enhances the delivery of healthcare nationally. It is a priority for TeamHealth.

In 2020, clinicians were strained mentally and physically throughout the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but maintaining patient safety and quality of care never faltered. Patient safety is not only a TeamHealth priority, but it is also a personal priority of our clinicians. Therefore, this Patient Safety Awareness Week, we want to share the perspectives of our clinicians in hopes that they will bring inspiration and action for change where needed.

Why is patient safety important to me?

“By putting ourselves in their shoes, as they say, tens of thousands of times each day across the country, TeamHealth physicians, NPs, PAs and CRNAs address those issues with stunningly high accuracy and safety … No measure of TeamHealth’s success is more important to me than our track record of patient safety … all due to the knowledge, skill and heart of the clinicians.”  

Lynn Massingale, MD
TeamHealth Co-Founder
and Chairman

 

“Patient and staff safety is more important now, more than ever before. In spite of very daunting working conditions throughout the pandemic, our clinicians have continued to provide the highest quality care, placing the highest priority on patient and staff safety. Since we were founded over 40 years ago, TeamHealth has kept patient safety and quality as a core strategic priority.”

Jody Crane, MD, MBA
TeamHealth Chief Medical Officer

 

“Patient safety is one of the things I am most passionate about. Our patients trust us to care for them in their most vulnerable moments, and it is our duty to provide them with safe, high-quality care – every patient, every time. TeamHealth’s commitment to patient safety makes me so proud of the work we do every day. This week, I hope we can all reflect on what we are doing to improve patient safety and also take time to celebrate the amazing work we have done in the past year. 

Heather Owen, MD
Executive Director, TeamHealth Patient Safety Organization,
and Chief Clinical Officer, Emergency Medicine

 

“As I reflect on patient safety in 2021, I feel so much pride for the courage, expertise and commitment our hospitalists have demonstrated during this pandemic. I am so grateful and privileged to support them and their dedication to patient safety.”

Rohit Uppal, MD
TeamHealth Chief Clinical Officer, Hospitalist Services

 

“Every day anesthesiologists and anesthetists administer medications and perform procedures that, if not done with expertise and knowledge, can harm a patient. They manage acutely ill patients through complex surgeries, almost always with a safe and satisfying outcome. The ability to reassure a patient that we will take care of them during one of the most stressful times of their lives is a privilege and a joy.”

Jay Mesrobian, MD
TeamHealth Chief Clinical Officer, Anesthesiology

 

“Simply put, patient safety is OUR safety … safety for ourselves, our families, and our communities.”

Rob Morton, NP
Chair, TeamHealth Advanced Practice Clinician Council,
and Regional Director of APCs, LifePoint Group

 

“I choose to celebrate this week and focus my professional role on patient safety because we are all patients … my kids, my mother, my husband and me. We all deserve access to safe and quality healthcare, as well as, the option to raise questions and concerns.”

Abbie Tapp-Pearson, RN, MSN, MBA
Director, TeamHealth Patient Safety Organization,
and Director, Clinical Education