Every two years, we choose new major initiatives to focus our activities around that represent significant areas for growth in the patient safety and quality space. From there, we organize action-planning workgroups with representatives from our membership who meet monthly to explore these topics and plan activities around them.

For 2022 we will continue our focus on the same three patient safety initiatives: improving the diagnostic process, promoting psychological safety, and addressing stigma and bias.

1) Improving the Diagnostic Process

Tactic 1: Raise awareness of the burning platform and define and measure the problem in a qualitative way. 

Activities: 

• Focus on specific aspects that are often missed in the diagnostic process. 

Tactic 2: Develop a focus through collaboration and evidence-base. 

Activities: 

• Develop a toolkit of best practices. 
• Build an educational curriculum. 

Tactic 3: Promote collaborative diagnosis (including patient/family). 

Activities: 

• Develop tools and resources on WPSC website. 

Work Products: 

Webinars: WPSC Lunchtime Webinar Series: Diagnostic Improvement — A deep look at diagnostic error, processes, and improvements in four parts. 

Partnerships: We were thrilled to become a member organization of Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine (SIDM).

Conference: Mark Graber and Sue Sheridan from SIDM were our closing speakers at the Northwest Patient Safety Conference in May 2019. Here are their slides:
Graber – Addressing Diagnostic Error – Its a Team Sport
Sheridan – Addressing Dx Error Patients Are the Answer

Safe Table: We hosted a Safe Table round table discussion in April 2019 focused on diagnostic improvement held at University of Washington Medical Center.

Podcast: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of the Diagnostic Process ⁠— interview with Paul Epner, co-founder of SIDM.

2) Promoting Psychological Safety

Tactic 1: Create a set of tools and resources to encourage patients to engage their healthcare team.

Activities:  

• Research and sourced patient psychological safety tools from member organizations and nationally.

Tactic 2: Collect patient psychological safety data to measure impact and determine factors contributing to psychological safety

Activities:  

• Literature review of topic and existing methods
• Determined best approach to measurement with existing data sources

Tactic 3: Promote and create awareness of patient psychological safety

Activities:  

• Develop and implement data collection plan

3) Addressing Stigma and Bias

Tactic 1: Build recognition of the problem of stigma and bias

Activities:  

• Produced a safe table series around stigma and bias for mental health
• Created WPSC member-only and public-facing stigma and bias resources
• Developed blogs and podcasts around mental health and stigma
• Promoted NAMI Stigma Free Pledge Initiative

Tactic 2: Share and employ Bree Collaborative and other tools and resources

Activities:  

• Shared Bree tools and resources around targeted sub-topics including LGBTQIA+ healthcare and suicide prevention.

Tactic 3: Promote training that address stigma and provider bias

• Promoted NAMI provider mental health education
• Sourced other programs and events for the annual conference and webinar planning.

Communication & Resolution

We also have an ongoing initiative in support of the UW’S Collaborative for Accountability and Improvement in support of the Communication and Resolution Program (CRP) and CRP Certification to reshape responses to patient harm. Learn more about our CRP work.