Engaging in Brazil

ONA’s Mural of Values, in the reception area of their new offices

This is the first of three blogs on my travels to Latin America in late May – early June.

My visit to Latin America started in Sao Paulo, where I presented at ACSC, and the CBEX Symposium, followed by sessions at CISS 2019 (International Congress of Health Services) and the IBES event, which were both part of the 2019 Hospitalar Fair (International Trade Fair).

This is the first of three blogs on my travels to Latin America in late May – early June.

My visit to Latin America started in Sao Paulo, where I presented at ACSC, and the CBEX Symposium, followed by sessions at CISS 2019 (International Congress of Health Services) and the IBES event, which were both part of the 2019 Hospitalar Fair (International Trade Fair). This was a very busy schedule of both speaking engagements as well as social events. ISQua has many members in Brazil and the journey had three separate focuses.

I spent the first day of my visit with the team of our QI Network partner, ACSC (Associação Congregação de Santa Catarina). I spoke with their executive team on the responsibility of the Board to create an environment to allow for productive improvement at the interface of provider and person. Led by Camila Sardenberg, I was impressed with the commitment from the leadership to look at how to improve care at the frontline.  I visited one of their accredited maternity hospitals, which has a commitment to improvement and clear examples of where they can improve more. I admired the way they took on new suggestions for projects. They also spoke about their programme to improve person-centred care and how they have involved people at all levels.

My second speaking engagement was at the CBEX Symposium. CBEX is a leadership group chaired by our good friend, Francesco Balestrin, who is also the current IHF (International Hospital Federation) President. I spoke on the safety challenges of the digitalisation of healthcare and how it offers opportunities but many threats. This was followed by the opening of the new ONA offices – and then dinner with the ISQua Experts attending the CISS meeting, Ezequiel Ellorio Garcia and Tricia Woodhead, and ISQua Member Carolina Moreles.

Brazil 3

The next two days were spent attending the Hospitalar Fair and spending time with the ONA team. It was a pleasure to meet Dr Waleska Santos, President and Founder of the Hospitalar Group, to outline the possibility of a future joint conference in Brazil.

During this time, I also met with the CBA team, including Thiago Constancio, CEO of Medportal, and Heleno Costa Junior, CBA Accreditation Manager, to launch our partnership with Medportal. This allows us to strengthen the commitment we’ve made and broaden ISQua’s footprint in Brazil.

Brazil 5

My final speaking engagement in Sao Paulo was a ‘Master Labs’, an IBES event that focused on positive and practical transformation for the Brazilian healthcare system. This was followed by a demonstration by Christian Hart, Director of Projects and New Business, and his team on the changes they’ve made by aligning quality and accreditation.

Brazil 4

My Brazilian journey ended in Rio Janeiro, the venue of the 2014 ISQua conference in Latin America. This is also where we had the official launch of the Brazilian Specialist Certificate programme, which will go live in July.

Brazil is exciting, dynamic and a great place to visit. We have strengthened our ties and the future is bright. Thanks to all at ACSC, CBA, CBEX, CISS, IBES, Medportal, and ONA for making it a memorable visit.

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Nourhan Kawtharani

Nourhan, a quality and safety coordinator with eight years of experience in ambulatory healthcare in Lebanon, aims to deepen her understanding of the systemic and holistic approach to healthcare through this fellowship.

She aims to identify gaps and develop tailored interventions that address specific contexts rather than applying general solutions. Engaging with diverse professionals and perspectives during this educational journey will expand the application of these concepts across different cultural settings.

Nourhan emphasizes the importance of promoting a culture of continuous learning and improvement within healthcare institutions, considering it a vital leadership responsibility to integrate quality and safety initiatives into the organizational culture.

Nourhan's commitment to patient safety and quality management includes sourcing practical resources and transforming insights into actionable knowledge to drive continued progress in healthcare practices and outcomes.

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Elom Otchi

Elom is passionate about improving quality of care and patient safety outcomes.

In view of this, he has had the opportunity to work in various capacities with various organisations including AfIHQSA, WHO, UNICEF and others undertaking research, supporting the development of national quality policies and strategies, facilitating the establishment of quality governance systems across all the levels of the health sector and building capacity of national and sub-national quality leads/teams to institutionalize the practice of quality and patient safety across the continent.

He has also worked extensively across all levels of care in the health sector of Ghana, including leading the Quality & Patient Safety program in its largest teaching hospital.

I would like to use this Fellowship as a learning platform and an opportunity to acquire the requisite knowledge, skills and competencies to complement ongoing efforts by like-minded individuals and organizations to continuously advance improve the quality and patient safety in Ghana and the continent.

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Stephen Taiye Balogun

Stephen is a Senior Programme Officer at the Institute of Human Virology in Nigeria as well as Country Representative for Health Information for All (HIFA).

Stephen plans to use this opportunity to maximise his impact by championing the cause of patient safety and quality in Nigeria and across Africa.

Stephen says "Quality and safety is a major wheel through which universal healthcare coverage can be achieved. The goal is to be a bridge in the gap between the International Quality Improvement and Patient Safety community and my country to ensure rapid spread, adoption, implementation and practice."

We are looking forward to working with both Stephen and our 2020 winner Rhoda Kalondu over the next year.

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Dr Rhoda Kalondu

Rhoda is the Head of the Patient Safety Unit at Kenyatta Hospital in Nairobi and wants to use this Fellowship to learn how to establish a culture of safety and develop systems for assessment and analysis at her institution, and more widely. As well as this, Rhoda intends to develop and execute an intervention to improve patient safety in Kenyatta National Hospital.

It is one thing to institute measures and processes for improvement, but quite another to change the culture of an environment. Rhoda's ambition to lead others in this change inspired the panel.

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Dr Subhrojyoti Bhowmick

I am an MBBS graduate from Calcutta University with a Gold Medal in Gynecology & Obstetrics.

I have completed M.D in Pharmacology from IPGME& R, Kolkata and have over 12 years of experience in the field of Clinical Research, Pharmacovigilance and Medication management in Hospitals.

I have completed certification in Clinical Research Administration & Project Management from Stanford University, USA and in Patient Safety from Johns Hopkins University, USA.

I am an Assessor for National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Health care providers (NABH), India assessing hospitals for medication safety and clinical quality standards and NABH Assessor for Ethics Committee Accreditation program in India as well.

I serve as the Chairperson, Institutional Ethics Committee of Health Point Hospital, Kolkata and am associated with 2 other Hospital ethics committees as a member.

I finished my Fellowship in Healthcare Quality from the International Society of Quality in Healthcare (ISQua) from Ireland in 2017.

I have published several research articles and have also authored a chapter on “Regulations governing Clinical Trial” in the book “Fundamentals of Clinical Trial & Research”.

I am a peer reviewer for prestigious international journals like the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, CNS Drugs and Drug Safety case reports.

I am the recipient of the UK Seth Oration Award for Best Clinical Pharmacology paper by the Indian Pharmacological Society in 2009 and the “Most promising Healthcare professional in Patient Safety in India” award by the Asian African Chamber of Commerce and Industry in October 2018.

Recently in April 2019, I received the Young Quality Achiever award by Consortium of Accredited Healthcare Organizations (CAHO), India for 2019 for my work in the field of medication safety and clinical research.

I have a keen interest in teaching and am visiting adjunct faculty of Pharmacology at KMC, Mangalore, India and for Healthcare technology at MAKAUT, Kolkata, India.

I was associated with Stanford University School of Medicine, in the USA as a Senior Clinical Research Associate from 2015 to 2017 and have certification in Biostatistics, Evidence-based Medicine and Medical Writing from Stanford University.

Currently, I am working as the Clinical Director of Academics, Medical Quality and Clinical Research at Peerless Hospital and B K Roy Research Centre, Kolkata.

I am very happy and thrilled to receive the prestigious ISQua Lucian Leape Patient safety Fellowship Award for 2019 and I look forward to honing my skills further in the field of healthcare quality and patient safety through my experiences during this fellowship.

I sincerely believe that successful completion of this fellowship will help me evolve as a more confident Patient safety leader in India who in turn can provide significant inputs on policy changes through NABH for the Indian healthcare system.

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