Patient Safety Roundtable Puts Focus Where It Squarely Needs to Be

May 13, 2014

The AARC has just formed a new Roundtable for members interested in networking with their colleagues about patient safety. Steve Sittig, RRT-NPS, FAARC, of Minnesota and Kevin McQueen, RRT, of California are serving as co-chairs of the Roundtable and will be encouraging discussions in the group.

With patient safety a top priority on all fronts—from accreditation to outcomes measurement to reimbursement—AARC is forming a roundtable to put the focus squarely where it needs to be. The Roundtable will have a home on AARConnect. Members can talk and share best practices as they consider the issues of improving patient safety and eliminating patient preventable deaths.

Earlier this year, AARC participated in a Patient Safety Movement conference, which was profiled in the May 2014 issue of AARC Times. Patrick Dunne, MEd, RRT, FAARC, presented at the conference and Jon Carlson, RRT-NPS an AARC member from Buffalo, NY, received the organization’s Humanitarian Award.

“This is something every respiratory therapist needs to be concerned about,” said Sittig. Likely topics to be discussed in the roundtable include healthcare-acquired infections, inter-personal communications, creating cultures of safety in the workplace and other topics that will help reduce patient error and readmissions.

AARC last year launched a series of patient safety resources that include three checklists to help respiratory therapists create and maintain good documentation in their facilities.

All of the AARC’s Roundtables are housed on the Association’s social media site, AARConnect, and are open to all members at no extra cost. To join the new Patient Safety Roundtable:

• Visit the Patient Safety Roundtable Community page
• Click on the green Join Community button.

You’ll also be prompted to choose your email preference. You can get the Roundtable emails in Real Time, Daily Digest, or choose No Emails so that you can come to the site at your leisure and read what has been posted. (We suggest you choose Real Time in order to get the most benefit from the interactions on the site.)