Hello, and welcome to Versant’s 2014 Client Conference!
At Versant, we believe in a global community and recognize that everyone is accountable for the world’s health. We are happy to announce that we have made a donation to Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors without Borders.
Mike Carman, Managing Partner, began our conference with an examination of our theme, “Competency-Driven Excellence”. Mr. Carman, an avid pilot, discussed an epiphany he had while flying a plane to this conference. Were his plane to crash, there would be a major investigation into what had occurred. No stone would be left unturned as the National Transportation Safety Board determined what factors led to his accident, be it mechanical, human, systemic, or any other. Depending on the Board’s findings, major policy changes would be pushed to the aviation community. This is the process that occurs after every aviation disaster, no matter how many people are involved.
However, 400,000 people will die of preventable medical error annually. On average, one out of every three patients will be harmed during a medical stay. There will certainly be investigations, and policy will be changed, but no investigation will be as far-reaching or have as many implications as a single-fatality plane crash would.
What should the response to this be? At Versant, we not only believe we can eliminate preventable medical error, we have been working to do so for the past 15 years. We believe the only approach the healthcare industry can take in the face of this fact is to accept personal accountability for patient outcomes, and to declare that zero defects is the only acceptable standard for patient care. If an organization fails to hold themselves accountable for the patients under their care, positive change is nigh-impossible.
Our first Versant Voices session occurred shortly thereafter. Dr. Kathy Chappell, Dr. Marie Manthey, and Bonnie Barnes presented short “TED-style” talks. In brief, they discussed interprofessional education, the mindset nursing requires, and The DAISY Foundation, respectively. All in attendance were inspired, and many were moved to tears.
The latter portion of the day was spent reviewing poster presentations, spotlighting individual resident alumni, and viewing the film “The American Nurse”. We were very lucky to have the film’s producer skype in for a special Q&A.
What a wonderful, inspiring day today was! We’d like to thank everyone who helped make the first day of our conference such a success.
