{"id":11715,"date":"2026-03-27T12:26:26","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T19:26:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qualityhealth.org\/wpsc\/?page_id=11715"},"modified":"2026-06-17T13:57:59","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T20:57:59","slug":"2026-conference","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.qualityhealth.org\/wpsc\/wpsc-events\/2026-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 CONFERENCE"},"content":{"rendered":"

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[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” overlay_dotted=”” css=”.vc_custom_1563987939435{background-color: #0063a7 !important;}”][vc_column][vc_wp_custommenu nav_menu=”16″ el_class=”about-wpsc-menu”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” equal_height=”yes” overlay_dotted=”” css=”.vc_custom_1563988438129{background-color: #91278f !important;}” overlay_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0.22)”][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”50px”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row overlay_dotted=”” css=”.vc_custom_1563988374766{margin-top: 30px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”11717″ img_size=”full” css=””][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row overlay_dotted=”” css=”.vc_custom_1563988217893{margin-bottom: 50px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_tta_tour style=”outline” shape=”square” color=”black” spacing=”20″ active_section=”1″ no_fill_content_area=”true”][vc_tta_section title=”Conference Information” tab_id=”1567627456908-f0504c69-8f3e”][vc_column_text css=””]<\/p>\n

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The 23rd Northwest Patient Safety Conference<\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

ABOUT THE CONFERENCE<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0October 15th and 16th, 2026
\nPresented in collaboration with the Oregon Patient Safety Commission <\/strong><\/span>and the BC Patient Safety and Quality Council<\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]REGISTRATION OPENS IN JUNE<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

WE’RE FINALIZING THE PROGRAM<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Welcome to our 23rd conference! This year we are focusing on practical approaches that will advance cultures of safety. The conference will feature presentations demonstrating innovative and functional approaches to improve patient and staff safety from institutions and your peers. The conference will kick-off with a fire side chat with the 20th U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams.<\/span><\/p>\n

We provide accredited programming and CE credits for BCPA, CPHQ, CPHRM, CPPS and Nursing Contact Hours.<\/span><\/p>\n

As always, the presentations are recorded and available for a year for everyone registered.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

VIRTUAL CONFERENCE DATES:<\/strong> OCTOBER 15th<\/sup> \u2013 16th<\/sup>, 2025<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a08:00 AM \u2013 1:00 PM, Pacific Time<\/span><\/p>\n

 [\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]About the Northwest Patient Safety Conference<\/strong><\/span>
\nNow in its 23rd year, the Northwest Patient Safety Conference is the only event of its kind in the Western US, uniting healthcare professionals, providers, patients, families, and caregivers from all care settings for networking and engaging in sessions with industry thought leaders invested in improving the patient experience. It is a collaboration between the Washington Patient Safety Coalition, the Oregon Patient Safety Commission, and Health Quality B.C.<\/p>\n

Members of the conference committee who are putting on this fantastic conference<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Andrew Wray\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Jeff Goldenberg
\nAmelina Kassa\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Jonathan Stewart \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nAnita Sulaiman\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Naomi Kirtner<\/span>
\nDavid Birnbaum\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Rex Johnson
\nDallas Smith\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Sydney Edlund
\nFarinaz Havaei\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Valerie Harmon
\nJamie Leviton \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Yanling Yu
\n<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

About the Washington Patient Safety Coalition<\/strong><\/span>
\nThe Washington Patient Safety Coalition brings together a diverse group of participants to focus on achieving common patient safety goals. Our mission is to improve safety for patients receiving health care in Washington, in all care settings, with a vision of safe care for every patient, every time, everywhere. The WPSC is a program of the Foundation for Health Care Quality, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing a trusted, independent, third-party resource to all participants in the health care community \u2013 including patients, providers, payers, employers, government agencies, and public health professionals.<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”9777″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”Registration” tab_id=”1649270304153-942138af-779e”][vc_column_text css=””] <\/p>\n

REGISTRATION WILL BE OPEN IN JUNE!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”Presentations” tab_id=”1659634299029-c7714d92-b4a2″][vc_toggle title=”From Cockpit to Bedside: Building and Sustaining a Culture of Safety – Ben Clayton” css=””]In high-risk industries, safety is rarely determined by a single decision, policy, or individual. Instead, it emerges from thousands of daily choices made by people throughout an organization. Whether in a cockpit, an emergency department, or a boardroom, culture influences how people communicate, respond to uncertainty, learn from failure, and protect those they serve.<\/p>\n

Drawing on experiences from military aviation, air medical transport, and healthcare leadership, this keynote will explore what separates organizations that merely talk about safety from those that truly live it. Through stories, lessons learned, and practical examples, participants will examine how leaders build trust, encourage speaking up, respond to mistakes, and create resilient organizations capable of learning and improving over time.<\/p>\n

The principles are simple, but sustaining them is hard. This session will focus on how leaders can create the conditions for safety to flourish\u2014not as a program or initiative, but as a core organizational value.<\/p>\n

Learning Objectives:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Identify leadership behaviors that strengthen or weaken safety culture.<\/li>\n
  2. \u00a0Explain how trust and psychological safety influence reporting and learning.<\/li>\n
  3. Describe strategies for sustaining safety culture during periods of change and operational pressure.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

     [\/vc_toggle][vc_toggle title=”Vaccine Integrity Project” css=””]Check back soon![\/vc_toggle][vc_toggle title=”Hidden in Plain Sight: Amplifying the Signals in Your Patient Safety Data – Eileen Kasda, Christine Robson, Asa Adadey” css=””]Artificial intelligence is transforming what is possible in patient safety. The presenters bring a rare combination of operational and analytic expertise, and a passion for innovation.\u00a0 The presenters will demonstrate what it means to move beyond event reporting toward true safety surveillance, bringing together multiple data sources and surfacing patterns that no single source could reveal. Drawing on a variety of techniques including natural language processing, machine learning, predictive modeling, and generative AI, the presenters will share their experiences deploying these approaches in ways that support safety leaders rather than overwhelm them. The presenters will share the careful, iterative thinking behind these approaches: how to validate algorithms, how to avoid oversimplifying complex safety data, and how to continuously work to ensure these tools strengthen rather than complicate the work of safety professionals.\u00a0 The session will also look ahead to the next frontier in safety analytics, where intelligent systems can reason through complex data the way an experienced patient safety professional would, connecting signals, weighing context, and helping teams get ahead of harm before it occurs. Attendees will leave with a practical framework for thinking about AI as a co-pilot in patient safety, amplifying the insight and judgment of the people doing this essential work, not replacing them.<\/p>\n

    Learning Objectives:<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Describe how AI and advanced analytic techniques can move patient safety from reactive event reporting to proactive surveillance across an organization.<\/li>\n
    2. Explain how analytic approaches can unlock staff capacity, reduce workarounds, and help safety leaders extract actionable information for improvement.<\/li>\n
    3. Articulate key principles for developing an organizational AI philosophy that drives innovation in patient safety while preserving the integrity of safety data and human judgment.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      [\/vc_toggle][vc_toggle title=”Co-Producing Safer Care Through Shared Knowledge: Adapting, Implementing, and Evaluating Interprofessional Patient- and Family-Centered Rounds to Improve Safety and Experience – Erin Blakeney” css=””]What if one of the most powerful tools for reducing harm in hospital care was simply changing who is in the room and how they interact during care planning discussions?<\/p>\n

      Interprofessional patient- and family-centered rounding models\u2014including Patient- and Family-Centered I-PASS (PFC I-PASS) rounds\u2014offer a structured, evidence-based approach to transforming how healthcare teams, patients, families, and care partners communicate during daily hospital rounds. By integrating required elements such as prerounds planning, shared mental model building, and attention to interpretation needs, these models enable rounds go beyond information exchange to place patients and families at the center of care discussions and decisions.<\/p>\n

      Hospitals that have implemented these models have found multiple beneficial results. For example, pediatric hospitals implementing PFC I-PASS have documented a 38% reduction in harmful medical errors, along with meaningful improvements in patient and family experience and reductions in adverse events. Yet translating this model into real-world hospital settings requires thoughtful adaptation, interprofessional commitment, and ongoing evaluation.<\/p>\n

      In this session, participants will hear firsthand experience in adapting and implementing PFC I-PASS rounds. Together, we will explore what PFC I-PASS rounds are and what the evidence tells us about their impact on safety and experience as well as how patients, families, and care partners can be meaningfully engaged as true partners rather than passive recipients in the rounding process.<\/p>\n

      Learning Objectives:<\/strong><\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Describe how interprofessional patient- and family-centered rounds work, including the meaningful roles that patients, family members, and care partners play alongside healthcare team members.<\/li>\n
      2. Explain the evidence linking interprofessional patient- and family-centered rounding approaches to improved safety and patient experience;<\/li>\n
      3. Describe approaches to evaluating whether patient- and family-centered rounds are achieving meaningful improvements in safety outcomes (e.g. reduced medication errors, improved communication of safety concerns, prevention of adverse events) as well as patient and family experience<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        [\/vc_toggle][vc_toggle title=”SMART Continual Readiness Program – Ivy Dacones” css=””]Maintaining continual readiness in a large system can be challenging. The S.M.A.R.T (staff maintaining accreditation readiness together) Program utilizes rounding tools that provide real-time, consistent, resources to facilitate continual readiness for accreditation, quality, and safety risk points that lead to meaningful conversation and immediate feedback to improve patient care. The SMART program standardizes rounding with purpose, promotes quality conversations, and maintains continual readiness.<\/p>\n

        Learning Objectives:<\/strong><\/p>\n

          \n
        1. Describe the purpose and structure of the S.M.A.R.T. Continual Readiness Program, including how Kamishibai-based tools (Resource, Task, Reference, and Survey Theme Cards) support accreditation and regulatory compliance.<\/li>\n
        2. Explain how S.M.A.R.T. rounding tools promote real-time feedback and standardization, improving staff knowledge, accountability, and adherence to high-risk, low-frequency processes.<\/li>\n
        3. Apply S.M.A.R.T. tools to support continual readiness efforts, including integrating cards into daily workflows, reinforcing regulatory requirements, and identifying opportunities to improve patient safety and quality outcomes<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          [\/vc_toggle][vc_toggle title=”Advancing Health in Turbulent Times – Jerome Adams, MD, 20th US Surgeon General” css=””]Dr. Adams, the 20th US Surgeon General, will give a “fire side chat” to open the conference. You’re encouraged to submit a question or topic before the presentation by emailing WPSC@qualityhealth.org, Subject: Dr. Adams.<\/p>\n

          Learning Objectives:<\/strong><\/p>\n

            \n
          1. Explore impact of social, economic, and healthcare system challenges on patient outcomes and provider well-being during periods of uncertainty and change.<\/li>\n
          2. Identify strategies to improve resilience, adaptability, and equitable healthcare delivery in rapidly evolving clinical environments.<\/li>\n
          3. Discuss innovative approaches and collaborative solutions that promote sustainable health advancement for patients, providers, and communities during turbulent times.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            [\/vc_toggle][vc_toggle title=”Did you Catch That? Changing Culture through Good Catch Program – Jessica Yanny” css=””]Check back soon![\/vc_toggle][vc_toggle title=”Practical Strategies to Build Vaccine Confidence – Lori Handy, MD” css=””]We are experiencing an unprecedented decline in vaccination rates. Effective communication begins with understanding where patients get their information and how they feel about it. People trust people, and they’re not going to necessarily trust a name on an organization. A lot of the work that we have to do is to get science away from an institutional stamp or a journal stamp, and have it communicated by people that are trusted by patients.\u00a0 The presentation will review evidence based methods of increasing vaccination rates.<\/p>\n

            Learning Objectives:<\/strong><\/p>\n

              \n
            1. Recognize challenges with different communication strategies<\/li>\n
            2. Describe best practices for communicating about vaccines<\/li>\n
            3. Develop a plan for how to best communicate with parents about vaccines<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

              [\/vc_toggle][vc_toggle title=”Presentation” css=””]Toggle content goes here, click edit button to change this text.[\/vc_toggle][vc_toggle title=”Presentation” css=””]Toggle content goes here, click edit button to change this text.[\/vc_toggle][vc_toggle title=”Presentation” css=””]Toggle content goes here, click edit button to change this text.[\/vc_toggle][vc_toggle title=”Presentation” css=””]Toggle content goes here, click edit button to change this text.[\/vc_toggle][vc_toggle title=”Presentation” css=””]Toggle content goes here, click edit button to change this text.[\/vc_toggle][vc_toggle title=”Presentation” css=””]Toggle content goes here, click edit button to change this text.[\/vc_toggle][vc_empty_space][vc_empty_space][\/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”Speakers” tab_id=”1686791062470-8a94bc87-8454″][vc_toggle title=”Ben Clayton: From Cockpit to Bedside: Building and Sustaining a Culture of Safety” css=””][\/vc_toggle][vc_toggle title=”Catherine Kroll: ” css=””]Check back soon![\/vc_toggle][vc_toggle title=”Vaccine Integrity Project” css=””]The Vaccine Integrity Project<\/a> was formed in 2025 to promote the continued grounding of immunization policies and programs in the best available science and focused on optimizing protection of individuals, families, and communities against vaccine-preventable diseases. During its exploratory phase, the Vaccine Integrity Project collected and synthesized feedback from stakeholders with a diverse range of experience, including public health, academia, industry, insurers and payers, medical associations, community organizations, and others. Key themes from these discussions resulted in several high-level recommendations to be achieved across organizations and initiatives.<\/p>\n

              These recommendations include:<\/p>\n