The National Quality Forum (NQF) and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations congratulate the recipients of the annual John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety Awards. The 2003 honorees were selected in three of the four Award categories.
For complete information about any of the award-winning initiatives, see the Journal on Quality and Safety, December 2003. (Requires Adobe Reader)
The honorees are:
Individual Lifetime Achievement
Jeffrey Cooper, Ph.D., Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Mass.
For his innovative application of human factors research to anesthesia machine safety and for later pioneering the concept of critical incident analysis.
Advocacy
The Leapfrog Group, Washington, D.C.
For developing national purchaser consensus around a series of focused patient safety goals and leveraging their implementation in hospitals.
Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network, Allentown, Pa.
For its advocacy for and commitment to multi-disciplinary systems approaches, specifically including the active engagement of health care consumers and the community, to reduce preventable adverse events in the delivery of health care.
System Innovation
Abington Memorial Hospital, Abington, Pa.
For the creation of "The Virtual Anticoagulation Clinic," which successfully reduced the morbidity and mortality of patients taking anticoagulant medications.
The 2003 awards were presented at the NQF's Fourth Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., September 30, 2003.
"We applaud each of the winners for their achievements in improving patient safety," said Dennis S. O'Leary, M.D., president, Joint Commission. "The ultimate beneficiaries of the efforts undertaken by these winners are the patients served."
"It is a pleasure to recognize these individuals and organizations for their efforts to improve patient safety," said Kenneth W. Kizer, M.D., M.P.H., president and chief executive officer, NQF. "Improving health care quality for Americans is imperative for all of us, and this year's award winners set an example for all to emulate."
The patient safety awards program—launched in 2002 by NQF and the Joint Commission—honors John M. Eisenberg, M.D., M.B.A., who was administrator of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) at the time of his death in March of 2002. Eisenberg was also one of the founding leaders of the NQF and sat on its Board of Directors. In his roles both as AHRQ administrator and chair of the federal government's Quality Inter-Agency Coordination Task Force, he was a passionate advocate for patient safety and personally led AHRQ's new grant program to support patient safety research.
The Eisenberg Awards categories are as follows:
Individual Achievement – Individuals who have demonstrated exceptional leadership and scholarship in patient safety over their careers.
Advocacy – Projects or initiatives involving safety-related interventions on behalf of patients. These efforts may be in areas such as legislation, media reporting, or patient advocacy, among others.
System Innovation – Projects or initiatives involving successful system changes or interventions that make the environment of care safer. These efforts may involve technology, protocols and procedures, education, or organization culture, among others.
Research – Projects that involve the scholarly exploration of patient safety-related issues. These efforts may involve systems theory, technology, or data analyses, among others.
Awards may be given in each category each year. However, an award need not be given in each category every year. No Award winner was identified in the Research category this year.