“The Role of Improving Safety and Quality in Addressing the MDGs"

As I prepared to meet students (speaking engagements at high school and primary schools, as well as college levels), speaking on topics related to citizen action helping to foster progress around the world achieving successful MDG outcomes, I wanted to post today to try urge everyone that research and advocacy work is vital to assist members of this platform.

Improving health is the area that I have become so involved with. I liked Sir Liam's comments as he pointed to the importance of citizen diplomacy to help "skill and empower practitioners in local settings to understand" concepts. This is clearly important as it relates to improving rural health profiles around the world where skill development is critical.....

------Input from at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center  in Washington, DC. [The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are part of a United Nations’ action plan to alleviate global poverty by 2015].

Drawing on his experience with the National Health Service in the United Kingdom, Sir Liam spoke of how the global health community can support practical and innovative improvement approaches , including regular hand washing by providers when giving patient care, following the WHO’s surgical safety checklist, and implementing safe childbirth checklists. These simple yet often ignored methods can aid health systems strengthening to achieve the MDGs.
Sir Liam said caretakers’ role in addressing patient safety to meet these Goals also should not be underestimated.
“You can skill and empower practitioners in local settings to understand the concept of safety, to understand that they themselves and their skills have a part to play in ensuring that patients are not harmed and survive their care,” he said.
Following Sir Liam’s presentation, Dr. Carolyn Clancy, Director of the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, also emphasized the need for implementing low-maintenance, effective interventions that save patients’ lives worldwide.
“Topping that list has to be washing hands, a simple act that can stop the spread of infection and save lives,” Clancy said. “It’s an issue in very developed countries like the United States as well.”