Imagining the future

Mango Stand in Calle Del Carretero #MangoMoments

This is the second of three blogs on my travels to Latin America in late May – early June. The visit to the enchanting city of Cartagena in Colombia, for the Regional ISQua conference, was illuminating. 

This is the second of three blogs on my travels to Latin America in late May – early June. The visit to the enchanting city of Cartagena in Colombia, for the Regional ISQua conference, was illuminating.

Cartagena has a vivid history – a centre of the slave trade, buccaneers sacking the city, trade development and now a vibrant tourist destination. All in the mix for an exciting conference hosted by OES, Fundación Santa Fe and ISQua, with contributions from many ISQua experts, including ISQua President-Elect Jeffery Braithwaite, Gail Nielson, Odet Sabaria, John Brennan, Enrique Ruelas, and Ezequiel Elorrio Garcia. Also attending was Dr Albert Wu, who was sponsored by John Hopkins.

Colombia 1

Over 900 delegates spent three days imagining the future. I was privileged to open the conference with Albert on this topic, challenging all to think about what is possible and what we can do together to redesign healthcare.

This was the first of three talks I give throughout the conference – the remaining where on person-centred care, and on resilience. ISQua’s Experts gave numerous talks and the impact of ISQua was felt throughout. It felt like we were making a real difference.

I was fortunate to meet the Minister of Health Juan Pablo Uribe and the Deputy Minister of Public Health and Provision of Services, Ivan Dario Gonzalez Ortiz, to strengthen our bonds in Colombia.

ISQua will be working with WHO on the implementation of the national strategy and with the Colombian MOH on their accreditation standards.

I’d like to give special thanks to Teresa Sono and Sofia Rincon and all the team at OES, and to Henry and the Fundación Santa Fe de Bogota team.

I’d like to share my closing remarks from the conference:

The conference name is Imaginemos el futuro de la calidad en salud. I started with John Lennon and end with his dream – Tú podrás decir que soy un soñador, Pero no soy el único.

I see so many dreamers, start today to make our dreams a reality!

I also want to leave each of you with a challenge – when you go home to the next person you have earned the right to see:

BE PERSON CENTRED

  • introduce yourself
  • Ask the person his or her name
  • Ask what matters to him or her
  • Ask permission to do what you need to do

BE RELIABLE

  • Ensure you wash your hands
  • Be accurate with prescribing and drug administration
  • Keep meticulous Medical Records
  • Have a clear and reliable Handover of information

BE COMPASSIONATE

  • Be respectful to all you work with and whom you treat
  • Nurture staff to deliver quality care
  • Respect all people all the time

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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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