I am a big advocate for patient safety… anything to improve our passage through the medical system with little harm as possible. This organization epitomizes the concept.
I came upon the Incubator for Patient Safety & Outcomes (IPSO). I love the fact that they are doing whatever it takes to empower patients with their own safety during medical care. It’s formed by a bunch of guys from Harvard University and Harvard Medical School who believe in improving communication between patients and the medical and research community. In some sense, they are advocating for patients to step up and become more involved with their healthcare in an innovative, yet simple format. Their members appear to be leaders in industry and patient safety, such as Dr. Richard Urman, Dr. Fred Shapiro and John Silva. They have assembled a fairly strong team of individuals with even an Innovation Fellowship for budding leaders in patient safety. This incubator, as listed on their website, is an offshoot of the non-profit Institute for Patient Safety in Office Based Surgery (ISOBS). Here’s their cool clean logo, which is simple and concise. It doesn’t, however, explain what the organization is about. Yet, it does provide an emphasis on the “I” for Incubator, which does somewhat provide meaning to the design.
What I find also interesting is that they are partnering with organizations and companies that create innovative patient safety products or set the standard for patient safety in general. One of their early partners, SafeMed Labs (short for Safety Medical Laboratories), creates an new product which provides for organization of medication syringes in the operating room. Although I have not seen this product on the market yet, I think it may be useful for preventing medical errors and adverse drug events, given that does allow for a clean and systematic placement of medications in use during surgery. I am looking forward to the many more partnerships they bring forth for promoting patient safety, including large national and international recognized companies and institutions.
Either way, I think this is great that we have organizations which provide resources and information for patients to become engaged in their own safety during their course of medical care. I know that many times people have gone for care without being involved in ensuring and implementing safety measures so they can return home without harm or with minimal effects of such treatments.
What are your thoughts? I would love to hear them. Thanks so much!
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