Medical Physics Seminar – Monday, January 28, 2019
Patient safety: Luck or Skill?
Susan Richardson, PhD (hosted by Dr. Larry DeWerd)
Medical Physicist, Radiation Oncology, Swedish Medical Center-Tumor Institute
Physicists are charged with performing quality-related tasks and implementing quantitative, measurable, safety steps. A patient's "team" is assumed to be bringing their "A-game" at all times, but is that really possible? What can we do as to keep ourselves alert and protect our patients? Do we have the right tools in our bag of patient safety tricks? How do the quality assurance tasks we perform every day really correlate with patient safety? This talk will describe real life scenarios where individuals had lapses in critical thinking, were unaware of their surroundings, or were just plain unlucky. The intent is to make the audience aware of their own fallibility.
Additionally, please join us for a pre-seminar Coffee Hour with Dr. Richardson in 1325 HSLC for coffee, cookies, and conversation.