Walters: "Fellowship gives you a front seat with an organization making a global impact"

Patient safety is as much a concern for many health care professionals as curing medical ills. In its annual Patient Safety Fellowship, the Jewish Healthcare Foundation posed the question: “What if safety was baked into the care model to prevent issues from happening in the first place?”

JHF Patient Safety Fellows at a session. (Courtesy: Jewish Health Foundation)

HPM MPH student Katie Walters was among the 23 emerging health care professionals taking part in the 9-week course.

“In each session, we heard from patient safety experts across the country,” she said. “For most of the sessions, we reviewed the 'Safe by Design' white paper and the recommendations provided by the Coalition for Advancing Safer Healthcare (CASH).”

Sessions involved participants working in groups to practice concepts covered in the paper and a site visit to the WISER Institute to see how education and simulation can be used to improve safety in every step of care. Teams were also tasked with showing how CASH recommendations would impact stakeholders in a wide range of disciplines.

“It was especially interesting to be around other fellows with diverse backgrounds from clinical to software engineering,” said Walters.

Walters had previously taken part in JHF’s Death and Dying Fellowship and knew she wanted to take part in this fellowship after what she says was a great experience in the first fellowship.

“Patient safety had not really been on my radar before. However, I knew this fellowship would be an opportunity to expand my knowledge and interests as I continue working towards my MPH and when I enter a public health career,” she said, adding that it means a lot to know JHF is investing in education for emerging professionals and providing opportunities not only to learn but also to improve patient care in many parts of the field.

As an MPH student, Walters says she is used to environments emphasizing interdisciplinary teamwork and says this experience embodied that mindset to a T. “[It] was incredibly collaborative and held space for open discussions,” she said. “The in-person setting allowed for free-flowing brainstorming and curiosity between people of various backgrounds and expertise.”

The World Health Organization says three million deaths occur annually due to unsafe care. One of the biggest takeaways for Walters was that patient safety can’t easily be boiled down to one element. “It’s a system issue,” she said, adding that health care systems in the U.S., while improving, still need to get better.

After completing her second JHF fellowship, Walters encourages others to take part because the time commitment isn’t prohibitive, especially for the knowledge and experience she gained. “Plus,” she added, “you can have a front-row seat to a local organization making a national and global impact.”

- Mike Friend