The Patient Safety Movement Foundation (PSMF) and the Taiwan Patient Safety Culture Club (TPSCC) announced today that 4 hospitals and 1 healthcare organization made a public commitment to helping eliminate preventable patient harm and death in hospitals by implementing the PSMF’s Actionable Patient Safety Solutions (APSS). The commitments were made at the 3^rd Annual Patient Safety Rally hosted by TPSCC in Taichung, Taiwan on April 27, 2019. Over 130 clinicians, hospital administrators and patient advocates were in attendance. Founded in 2012 by Dr. Chan Liao, TPSCC is the only not-for-profit patient safety advocacy group in Taiwan.

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3rd Annual Patient Safety Rally in Taichung, Taiwan (Photo: Business Wire)

“We are excited and encouraged to see thesehealthcare organizations put patient safety above all else,” said Dr. David Mayer, Chief Executive Officer of the Patient Safety Movement Foundation. “In just 2 years, these dedicated clinicians and administrators from 38 organizations have implemented solutions that have saved 1,631 lives. We look forward to working closely with their team and hope that every hospital in Taiwan implement every APSS by 2020.”

“We are working to unify the healthcare ecosystem in Taiwan and are committed to helping our hospitals eliminate preventable patient deaths by implementing the evidence-based APSS,” said Dr. Chan Liao, Founder & President of the Taiwan Patient Safety Culture Club. “I attended the World Patient Safety, Science and Technology Summit in 2017 and was so inspired that I wanted to mirror their efforts in Taiwan. I became the Regional Chair for Taiwan and am so proud of the organizations that have joined us with a public commitment. We just announced the PatientAider app has been launched in Traditional Chinese. I believe this will help empower patients in Taiwan to take a more active role in their healthcare. We are grateful to the Patient Safety Movement Foundation for their inspiration and strong support. I have no doubt that together we will reach zero patient harm and deaths in our hospitals.”

Dr. Chan Liao presented his organization’s commitment at the World Patient Safety, Science and Technology Summit. Presentation link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgz-SUFbKmQ

TPSCC revealed the Patient Safety Movement’s PatientAider^® mobile app is now available in Traditional Chinese for both iPhone and Android users. This was done in collaboration with a solution called Contentful. The PatientAider is designed to cut through confusing medical jargon to provide an easy to understand explanation of medical terms, protocols, and risks that hospital patients may encounter. It will be a valuable source of medical information that is designed to help patients and their loved ones navigate their hospital care.

Dr. Steven Barker, a member of the Board of Directors for PSMF, introduced the Patient Safety Movement’s mission, goals and strategies to attendees. He also provided a detailed presentation on the APSS called Hand-Off Communications. According to Joint Commission, ineffective patient care handoffs between providers or teams have been the largest single contributor to preventable patient deaths. The PSMF developed a new approach to patient handoffs, using a specific, detailed checklist for each of the 18 types of handoffs identified.

Speakers at the rally included:

• Brandyn Lau, MPH, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
• Shin Ushiro MD, PhD, Kyushu University Hospital, Japan
• Steven J. Barker, PhD, MD, Chief Science Officer, Masimo

2019 Organizations that have made commitment(s) include:

1. Taiwan Society of Anesthesiologists (Partner): TSA was founded in 1956 and now has more than 1,400 members. TSA is the first national anesthesiology society in Asia to join the Movement.
2. Tsao-Tun Psychiatric Center (Hospital): The biggest psychiatric center in Central Taiwan.
3. Tainan Sin-Lau Hospital (Hospital): The oldest Western hospital in Taiwan.
4. Tao Yuan General Hospital (Hospital): The biggest medical center operated by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
5. Cheng Ching Hospital: One of the oldest hospitals in Taichung.

About The Patient Safety Movement Foundation

More than 200,000 people die every year in U.S. hospitals and 4.8 million worldwide in ways that could have been prevented. The Patient Safety Movement Foundation is a global non-profit which creates free tools for patients and hospitals. The Patient Safety Movement Foundation was established through the support of the Masimo Foundation for Ethics, Innovation, and Competition in Healthcare to reduce that number of preventable deaths to ZERO. Improving patient safety will require a collaborative effort from all stakeholders, including patients, healthcare providers, medical technology companies, government, employers, and private payers. The Patient Safety Movement Foundation works with all stakeholders to address the problems with actionable solutions for patient safety. The Foundation also convenes the World Patient Safety, Science & Technology Summit. The Summit brings together some of the world’s best minds for thought-provoking discussions and new ideas to challenge the status quo. By presenting specific, high-impact solutions to meet patient safety challenges, called Actionable Patient Safety Solutions, encouraging medical technology companies to share the data their products are purchased for, and asking hospitals to make commitments to implement Actionable Patient Safety Solutions, the Patient Safety Movement Foundation is working toward ZERO preventable deaths. Visit patientsafetymovement.org.

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