Patient Safety Movement Foundation Appoints New Chairman; Announces Drive Toward Zero Preventable Patient Deaths By 2030

With Upwards of 366,353 Lives Saved to Date, Michael A.E. Ramsay, MD, FRCA Takes the Helm of Global Non-Profit Aimed at Eliminating Preventable Hospital Deaths

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Patient Safety Movement Foundation (PSMF) – a global non-profit dedicated to unifying those involved in the healthcare ecosystem, identifying challenges that are causing patient deaths, and creating actionable solutions to mitigate them – is pleased to announce the appointment of its new chairman of the board of directors – Michael A.E. Ramsay, MD, FRCA. It also reaffirms its commitment to patient health and safety with updates to its mission, vision and values; and reestablishes its goal of achieving ZERO preventable patient deaths by 2030.

As one of PSMF’s longest-standing board members, serving since 2013, Dr. Ramsay has been an advocate for patient safety in the anesthesia world since the 1980’s and embodies the values and principles set forth by the foundation. He is a renowned medical professional and the current president of the Baylor Scott & White Research Institute, where he spearheads clinically relevant research efforts. Well-known for the development and implementation of the Ramsay Sedation Scale – a tool that has been adopted globally, designed for interpreting the depth of sedation for patients in the critical care unit; he also serves as chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Management at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Texas.

“The Patient Safety Movement has achieved tremendous momentum in the eight years since its inception,” said Joe Kiani, founder and prior chairman of the board of the Patient Safety Movement Foundation. “Kindling this important movement has been an enormous part of my life’s work, and I am thrilled to pass the torch to Dr. Ramsay to carry our shared vision forward into the future with passion and enthusiasm.”

To date, the foundation has accomplished:

• Saving 366,353 lives since 2013

• Securing 48 countries with committed hospitals

• Securing 54 countries with partner groups (i.e. hospitals, open data pledge, other partners)

• Securing 4,793 total committed hospitals

• Securing 92 total pledges

• Securing 94 total partners

• Saving a total of 93,276 lives in 2019 alone

While the foundation did not achieve its prior goal of hitting zero preventable patient deaths by 2020, it renews the pledge with a new target goal of 2030.

“It is a great honor to be appointed chairman of the board of directors of the Patient Safety Movement Foundation,” states Dr. Ramsay. “Lives are being saved and patient harm is being prevented. We share monumentally important goals and have taken great leaps forward thus far; and I truly look forward to building upon the successes to date to achieve ZERO preventable patient deaths by 2030.” Dr. Ramsay has written his first “Letter from the Chairman” which is published monthly on the PSMF’s website. To read his first letter, visit: https://patientsafetymovement.org/newsletters/march-2020-issue-ii/letter-from-the-chairman-march-2020.

The Patient Safety Movement Foundation will continue to provide tools, resources and guidelines aimed at educating healthcare providers, industry professionals, patients and families, to achieve its vision of a future that diminishes and ultimately eliminates preventable patient deaths. It will do so by:

1. Prioritizing safety with patients at the center.
2. Promoting dignity, compassion and respect in healthcare.
3. Aligning everyone who influences or is touched by healthcare.
4. Promoting transparency.
5. Realigning incentives to achieve safer care.
6. Informing caregivers, patients and families about patient safety.
7. Identifying the preventable causes of patient harm and death, and then create and freely share actionable solutions (Actionable Patient Safety Solutions) to mitigate them.
8. Driving the implementation of Actionable Patient Safety Solutions (APSS).
9. Asking healthcare technology companies to share data to create a Patient Data Superhighway.
   

To learn more about Patient Safety Movement Foundation, visit https://patientsafetymovement.org/.

ABOUT 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 (PSMF) is a global non-profit working toward a future that diminishes and ultimately eliminates preventable patient deaths by offering tools, resources and guidelines aimed at educating healthcare providers, industry professionals, patients and families. It was established through the support of the Masimo Foundation for Ethics, Innovation and Competition in Healthcare to achieve the goal of ZERO preventable patient deaths. Achieving this goal requires a collaborative effort from all stakeholders, including patients, healthcare providers, medical technology companies, government, employers and private payers. The Patient Safety Movement Foundation is dedicated to unifying those involved in the healthcare ecosystem, identifying challenges that are causing patient deaths, creating actionable solutions to mitigate them, and partnering with hospitals who are committed to implementing its specific, high-impact solutions to meet patient safety challenges called Actionable Patient Safety Solutions (APSS). The organization also encourages medical technology companies to share the data their products are purchased for, and asks hospitals to make commitments to implement Actionable Patient Safety Solutions. To learn more, visit patientsafetymovement.org.

Editor’s Note: To schedule interviews with the experts from Patient Safety Movement Foundation, please email [e-mail] or call 949.733.8679.