COLUMBIA, Md. (Feb. 7, 2017)— David Mayer, MD, vice president of Quality and Safety for MedStar Health, has received the 2016 Humanitarian Award from the Patient Safety Movement Foundation. Dr. Mayer was one of four medical professionals recognized for their lifesaving achievements in patient safety at the foundation’s 5th Annual Patient Safety, Science & Technology Summit in Irvine, Calif., last week. President Bill Clinton and Vice President Joseph Biden were keynote speakers.
“I am honored and humbled to receive this year’s Patient Safety Movement Humanitarian Award,” Dr. Mayer said. “Health care continues to do amazing things in healing patients the majority of the time. However, due to faulty systems and processes, preventable medical harm continues to be a national epidemic. All of us at MedStar Health look forward to continuing our mission to help improve patient safety for the communities we serve, as well as across the nation.”
Dr. Mayer oversees MedStar Health’s infrastructure for clinical quality and its operational efficiency and designs, and directs system-wide activity for patient safety and risk-reduction programs.
MedStar Health is in the vanguard of embracing transparency in communications with patients and families when something goes wrong in treatment. Recently, MedStar patient safety experts worked with the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to develop and pilot a toolkit for the Communication and Optimal Resolution (CANDOR) program, which is a model for disclosing error, providing immediate and ongoing care for the patient, and for caring for the caregiver following a traumatic event. An equally important component of CANDOR is investigating underlying causes of harm and putting measures in place to prevent a recurrence.