Author: Lena Zhu

I am not a doctor or a nurse or a parent like the rest of the contributors. I don’t know the difference between a tibula and a fibula - I haven’t even graduated high school yet. But I am a 16-year-old teenager who knows what people my age and younger think about hospitals and healthcare professionals. [...] 

Authors: Dr. Anne Lyren and Joyce Deptola, RN

At our hospital, we take very seriously the principle of high reliability organizations that emphasizes a focus on failures and shortcomings. These efforts are ongoing as we have yet to create a perfectly safe experience for every child who enters into our care. However, as summer ends and we begin our plans for 2015 in earnest, we pause to consider the accomplishments of our quality and safety program and the factors that have contributed to our success over the last few years. [...]

Author: Johannah Back

I am just a mom. I, like many of you, have been thrust into the world of patient safety due to the occurrence of an unfortunate medical error. Our entrance to this world began because our daughter's G-tube feeding was connected to her IV line, causing fortified breast milk to be sent through her bloodstream and internal organs. She suffered Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation (DIC) and several other medical emergencies, but after three days on life support, she miraculously survived. [...]
 

Author: Thomas Dahlborg

While vacationing recently, I was enjoying a quiet morning in the sun reading USA TODAY when a particular headline in the Sports Section grabbed my attention:
NASCAR needs its own team of traveling doctors [...]

Author: Dr. Daniel Hyman

Our senior management team and Board members routinely describe the Children’s Hospital Colorado Target Zero program as being among the most successful in the 100+ years of our long and proud history. I would describe it as the most rewarding professional opportunity I have had in my career. I appreciate the opportunity to share some of this program’s highlights and key messages and would be happy to provide more information to anyone who is interested. [...]

Author: Julia Hallisy, D.D.S.

Open and honest discussion of medical errors and patient safety issues is never easy. When the patient who is harmed is a child battling a life-threatening cancer diagnosis, it becomes exponentially more difficult. In 1999 the groundbreaking Institute of Medicine (IOM) report “To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System” validated what parents and family members already knew - that patients were experiencing a significant amount of harm when receiving medical care. [...]

Author: Kim Lynette Sandstrom

A few months ago, Dale Micalizzi, the courageous mom, who took a stand on behalf of her son, Justin, invited me to become a member of PIPSQC and join the PIPSQC Ambassadors. I heartily agreed, but then took my own sweet time to write the blog she had been patiently asking for. It was one of those things that I could not quite wrap my brain around what to write. I kept thinking, what do I have to add to the discussion, nearly 9 years after our light, Diana Brookins, died from an upper biliary duct injury, from the removal of a single gallstone, and a central line infection following the birth of her only child. [...]

Author: James Padilla, JD

The other day, my friend and colleague, Dale Ann Micalizzi, posted on her Facebook page a note about a doctor friend who was going to engage in an apology and disclosure following a tragic outcome. Knowing her story and having a similar one, I could only consider thinking - do we as patients and impacted family ever encourage such a difficult undertaking? I mean do we REALLY encourage it from the doctor, nurses and other healthcare providers! [...]

Author: Dale Ann Micalizzi

In 2001, our 11 year old son, Justin, died following an incision and drainage of a septic ankle. Our lives were shattered and we sought solace among parents who had suffered this unfathomable loss before us. We joined the International Compassionate Friends support group and eventually became co-leaders of a local chapter. Through this work, I partnered with a local organization called, Bridging People and Places and arranged for them to make teddy bears for our support parents’ other children. [...]

Author: Lenore Alexander

When a child dies from preventable medical error, it’s almost always more than one mistake. In the case of my daughter Leah, it was, in retrospect, what they call a perfect storm. And after years of reading about hospitals and medical error, and about Leah’s specific surgery, I have come to know just how many things were simply done wrong.[...]