The Workshop on Consumer Engagement in Selected Patient Safety Topics in the United States builds on new initiatives and tools to engage consumers as partners and applies these resources to informing five emergent patient safety issues. This is a research development event, the findings of which will be widely disseminated. The Workshop will be conducted in Chicago, IL at Northwestern Memorial Hospital (NMH) facilities during the first quarter of 2008. This submission is made by Consumers Advancing Patient Safety (CAPS), a 501(c)(3) organization, in collaboration with the World Health Organization's (WHO) Patients for Patient Safety Program (PFPS). Other Convener partners include NMH and Partnership for Patient Safety (p4ps). The central objective of the Workshop is to inform five initiatives that depend on consumer engagement with healthcare providers and policymakers to be optimally successful: (1) Reporting medical errors and/or near misses; (2) Contributing to root cause analyses of medical system failures; (3) Preparing patient education materials and supporting patient education about healthcare safety risks and opportunities for engagement in managing those risks; (4) Incorporating patient experiences into research and formulation of research agendas; and (5) Patient/consumer engagement in the planning, safety and effectiveness of their own care or that of their loved ones. Proceedings and action plans in each of these five areas will be Workshop products. The Workshop utilizes a group process methodology known as Appreciative Inquiry (AI), designed to use participants' past personal and professional successes in addressing challenges and creating inspired, positive change. AI searches for and builds on the best in people, their organizations and the relevant world around them, thereby fostering collaboration and revitalized relationships that can be transformative. Thought leaders cite the failure to engage consumers in patient safety work as one factor in delaying progress in the field. The most notable driver of consumer engagement in safety work to date is the World Health Organization's Patients for Patient Safety (PFPS) program, established in 2006 as an original action area of the WHO's World Alliance for Patient Safety. The Workshop on Consumer Engagement in Selected Patient Safety Topics in the United States will be the first PFPS event focused specifically on patients, providers and patient safety issues in the United States. ? ? ?
