What Matters To You 2020 in the Pandemic Era

Isabela Castro, ISQua Member and Fellow and passionate patient advocate, is calling on the global healthcare community to help support the What Matters To You? Movement and celebrate the importance of patient and family voices. Find out why Isabela is dedicated to championing this movement and join us over on Twitter where Isabela is guest tweeting from @ISQua today, 9 June, in celebration of World WMTY Day 2020.

Isabela Castro, ISQua Member and Fellow and passionate patient advocate, is calling on the global healthcare community to help support the What Matters To You? Movement and celebrate the importance of patient and family voices. Find out why Isabela is dedicated to championing this movement and join us over on Twitter where Isabela is guest tweeting from @ISQua today, 9 June, in celebration of World WMTY Day 2020.

For my third consecutive year, the month of June arrived with all the reflection it carries, due to the What Matters To You? Movement. But this year was different, the deep dive into the soul began in March, the month that marked the beginning of the pandemic in my country, Brazil. Suddenly, all human relationships changed, conventional work gave way to the home office. Gloves and masks have become everyday items for all Brazilians. Fear took over the community and new ways of living and relating brought to light discussions about technology and artificial intelligence in people’s lives, from simple daily activities to more refined and technical actions, such as robotic surgical line processes in complex health systems. Gradually, chaos gave way to faith and hope, characteristics that are so striking for the Brazilian people.

While isolating ourselves, we reflected on what really matters. This year, the WMTY more than ever, went beyond the limits of health systems and took root in the lives of all Brazilians through in-depth analyzes of their lives. New demands brought have never made WMTY conversations so meaningful and necessary, not only in health but in all areas of society. This manifesto brings a few words to my mind: compassion, collaboration, hope, faith, love and deep and profound connections. The new world that arrives brings new ways of thinking and acting and some things are just unacceptable. In fact, many.

What matters to me this year is true social and racial justice, equity and a world of love and peace. We, as a health system, are responsible for the change in the world in general. How can I feel good in my house, if there is a homeless family on the corner? How can I establish a new luxury hospital in a given geographical area, oblivious to a miserable community there? We must take accountability for ourselves to build new, more balanced and just ecosystems. It is not possible to think about health without thinking about moral determinants.

I challenge you this year to fight against, with all your strength, any injustice that you find on your way, because the world is big but we are many and we are together, and we feel compassion. Heal the system, build a new ecosystem in this new existence that arrives. Rebel. Be disobedient. Be brave. I decided not to wait, what about you? What matters to you?

Find out more about the WMTY movement at https://www.whatmatterstoyou.scot/

#WMTY2020

Download the WMTY template here, add your photo and text and share on Twitter.

WMTY template, download and share what matters to you

Recent Blog Articles

Quarter One: ISQua’s Global Impact

Adverse Events Outside Direct Care

Nominations for 2026 PROMS

ISQua EEA call for tenders

Celebrating ISQua’s Women Leaders on International Women’s Day

Stay in Touch

We bring you the latest research, expert opinions, and industry updates in healthcare safety and quality – so you’re always in the know.

Follow us on social media

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.

This will close in 0 seconds

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.

This will close in 0 seconds

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.

This will close in 0 seconds

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.

This will close in 0 seconds

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.

This will close in 0 seconds