Improving Hospital and Laboratory Safety

自从医学研究所发布了“人孰能无过”的报告以来，以患者安全为重点的健康专业研讨会和会议的数量迅速增加。然而，部分原因是：1)美国病理学家的数量相对较少（与其他内科专家相比），2)病理实验室和病理实践的持续“黑箱”性质，以及3)从事与患者安全或实验室诊断信息的临床有效性相关的卫生服务研究的病理学家的缺乏，这些会议的大部分内容已经并将继续与实验室无关。针对：1)目前资助的病理实验室患者安全研究结果的信息和认识的空白；2)目前缺乏一个全国性的会议论坛来传播和讨论与病理实验室和患者安全有关的信息和想法，我们于2004年10月组织并主办了第一届全国病理质量和患者安全会议。在首届试点会议成功的基础上，我们的长期目标是每年举办一次。为了实现这一目标，我们计划并指导将于2005年8月举行的第二次会议。本次会议的主要目的是向病理学家、其他实验室人员、实验室管理人员和其他卫生保健专业人员传播临床质量改进计划的研究成果和结果，他们可以利用这些信息来提高实验室服务质量和患者安全。特别是，它将用于传播由医疗保健研究和质量局以及其他联邦组织资助的研究。次要目标是促进病理实验室服务和诊断测试领域的患者安全和临床有效性研究发展。为此，我们计划了一个为期两天的会议，会上将交流目前资助的实验室质量改进和患者安全项目的发现，临床质量改进倡议的结果，以及其他与病理实践和实验室服务相关和/或可能适用的医疗质量和患者安全信息。与会者将收到一份包含会议上提供的所有信息的硬拷贝教学大纲；但是，我们也计划将这些信息发布在一个网站上，并提交一份书面摘要供发表。

Since the release of the Institute of Medicine report "To Err is Human," the number of patient safety-focused health professional seminars and conferences has rapidly increased. However, due in part to: 1) the relatively small numbers of United States pathologists (compared to those of other physician specialists), 2) the persistent "black box" nature of pathology laboratories and pathology practice, and 3) the paucity of pathologists performing health services research related to patient safety or the clinical effectiveness of laboratory diagnostics information, the majority of the content of these conferences has, and continues to be, non-laboratory related. In response to: 1) the void in information and awareness about findings from currently funded pathology laboratory patient safety research and 2) the current lack of a national conference forum for dissemination and discussion of information and ideas related to the pathology laboratory and patient safety, we organized and hosted the first national pathology quality and patient safety conference in October 2004. Based on the success of the first pilot conference, our long-term goal is to organize and host this conference on an annual basis. In order to achieve this goal, we aim to plan and direct a second conference that will be held in August 2005. The major objective of this conference is to disseminate research findings and results of clinical quality improvement initiatives to pathologists, other laboratory personnel, laboratory administrators, and other health care professionals who can use this information to improve both the quality of laboratory services and patient safety. In particular, it will be used to disseminate research funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and other federal organizations. The secondary objective is to promote patient safety and clinical effectiveness research development in the area of pathology laboratory services and diagnostic testing. To this end, we have planned a 2-day conference where findings from currently funded laboratory quality improvement and patient safety projects, results from clinical quality improvement initiatives, and other healthcare quality and patient safety information relevant and/or potentially applicable to pathology practice and laboratory services will be communicated. Attendees of the conference will receive a hard copy syllabus containing all the information presented at the meeting; however, we also plan to post this information on a Web site and submit a written summary for publication.