Stacy Walz, PhD, MS, MT(ASCP), ASCLS Patient Safety Committee Chair
The ASCLS Patient Safety Committee is a hard-working committee comprised of 14 appointed members and more than 20 interested observers and resources, divided among three workgroups: Education and Research, Products and Promotion, and Benchmarking. Committee members provide a variety of benefits and services to ASCLS members:
- Oversee the Patient Safety and Healthcare Quality (PS&HQ) Community in ASCLS Connect
- Produce brochures that you can use at your own institution to educate both patients and other healthcare practitioners on laboratory-related initiatives designed to improve patient safety
- Provide education in the form of presentations, articles, and online CEUs
With considerable national attention being placed on errors surrounding diagnosis in medicine, and the clinical laboratory being specifically named as a partner in reducing these types of errors, the Patient Safety Committee is committed to the following activities this year:
- Provide a regular patient safety column in ASCLS Today
- Write blog posts for the PS&HQ Community
- Write articles for Lab Testing Matters
- Refine old and create new brochures and content to educate patients and non-laboratory healthcare practitioners
- Submit proposals for presentations at upcoming CLECs, state meetings, and Joint Annual Meetings
- Expand our repertoire and increase our audience through more extensive use of social media
This is a pivotal and exciting time for our profession. It will take a village to improve the quality of healthcare in the United States, and our long-awaited seat at the table in these discussions is here.
Stacy Walz is associate professor and chair of the Clinical Laboratory Science Department at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro.
Visit Patient Safety Matters at www.ascls.org/patient-safety-in-laboratory-medicine-matters