Stories Have the Power to Improve Patient Safety, Says Dennis Quaid

Newswise — Telling stories of patients and families harmed by medical errors—and of healthcare professionals who have the courage to speak out about errors—is a powerful "secret weapon" in the fight to improve patient safety, according to an article co-authored by actor-turned-patient-safety-crusader Dennis Quaid in the current issue of the Journal of Patient Safety (www.journalpatientsafety.com). The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (LWW), a part of Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading provider of information and business intelligence for students, professionals, and institutions in medicine, nursing, allied health, and pharmacy.

In the new article, Quaid and co-authors write of the power of stories in breaking through barriers to recognizing, correcting, and preventing medical errors. In a speech on April 12 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., Quaid talked about the "Story Power" idea and how leaders can use stories to prompt an "arc to action" approach in addressing safety challenges.

Quaid and his wife Kimberly created The Quaid Foundation (http://thequaidfoundation.org/), dedicated to raising the standard of patient medical care, after a life-threatening medication error involving their newborn twins. Quaid has announced the merger of the foundation into the Texas Medical Institute of Technology (TMIT), a private, not-for-profit medical research organization that supports development and dissemination of patient safety practices. His co-authors are Julie Thao, R.N.C., and Charles R. Denham, M.D., of TMIT (http://www.safetyleaders.org/). Dr. Denham is Founder of TMIT. Story Power: the 'Secret Weapon' in Driving Patient SafetyIn their article, Quaid, Thao, and Denham introduce the concept of Story Power, which they call the "secret weapon" in fighting the defective systems and defensive mindset that contribute to devastating medical errors. They write of a simple but powerful video in which Sorrel King—the mother of a child who died as a result of medical errors related to "failed communication and teamwork"—told her story to an audience of healthcare professionals.

The video was produced by TMIT, which embarked on a campaign of circulating it to hospitals first across the United States and then the globe. In interviews with safety leaders at 675 hospitals where the video was viewed by staff, 85 percent believed that it either saved lives or positively affected patients. "Respondents from 205 hospitals believed that more than 50 patients had been positively impacted by changes in care inspired by viewing the video," according to the article.

Inspired by the tremendous impact of the Sorrel King video, Quaid and co-authors are spreading the word about the power of stories to drive patient safety and improve patient care. Stories can help potential leaders to "awaken their inner David" and challenge their fears: "the personal Goliath that paralyzes good people from taking action." The authors list a "cast of Davids" as examples of the type of leadership needed:• Sorrel King and other victims of medical errors, who share their stories in the hope of saving lives.• Co-author Julie Thao, a nurse who overcame a tragic medical error to rededicate her career to patient safety.• Organizational leaders like Dr. Don Berwick, founder of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.

However, to achieve positive change, healthcare and hospital leaders must overcome ingrained practices that, all too often, prompt people and institutions to close ranks and stonewall when medical errors occur. Professionals who speak out about medical errors and unsafe practices "must face the fear of reputational and financial risk that transparency through storytelling will create when they honestly address shortfalls that cause harm to the patients they serve," Quaid and co-authors write.

Along with TMIT and other patient safety leaders, Quaid has created a television documentary, Chasing Zero: Winning the War on Healthcare Harm, on Story Power in patient safety. The documentary will premier later this month, followed by repeated airings on the Discovery Channel. Quaid and TMIT hope the documentary will galvanize healthcare leaders to embrace the National Quality Forum's Safe Practices for Better Healthcare, promoted as a "roadmap" to patient safety.

The 2010 Safe Practices were released today. Quaid is a co-author of the chapter for patients and families in this updated set of safe practices. In his speech, Quaid acknowledged Janet M. Corrigan, Ph.D., M.B.A., President and CEO of the National Quality Forum.

Quaid, Thao, and Denham urge hospital leaders and healthcare professionals to become "personally engaged in the action" in avoiding medical errors: "They can do so by activating their teams using stories as weapons against the fears that pose barriers to improvement of preventable harm."

"We're proud to be able to publish this inspirational article, and echo the call for all healthcare professionals to become patient safety leaders," comments Nancy W. Dickey, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Patient Safety. "Identifying potential threats to patient safety in their profession or at their institutions and working to create solutions is indispensible in making progress. Speaking out—telling stories—helps demonstrate the prevalence of the problem and relieves some of the anxiety of professionals who have learned behaviors of denial and self-protection."

About Journal of Patient SafetyThe Journal of Patient Safety (www.journalpatientsafety.com) is dedicated to presenting research advances and field applications in every area of patient safety. While Journal of Patient Safety has a research emphasis, it also publishes articles describing lessons learned from near-miss incidents, system modifications that are barriers to error, and the impact of regulatory changes on healthcare delivery. This mix of research and real-world findings makes Journal of Patient Safety a valuable resource across the breadth of health professions and from bench to bedside. The journal is affiliated with the National Patient Safety Foundation (http://www.npsf.org).

About Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (LWW) is a leading international publisher for healthcare professionals and students with nearly 300 periodicals and 1,500 books in more than 100 disciplines publishing under the LWW brand, as well as content-based sites and online corporate and customer services.

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