MITSS 9th Annual Dinner and Fundraiser.

Exciting News, you can now purchase your tickets for the dinner on line!  We hope you can join us!  Just follow the link below.

Do Patients Want to Punish?

Do patients really want to punish when things go wrong? Good question...

We wanted to point out a great discussion on this very topic. One of our favorite bloggers, Paul Levy, has started this interesting discussion on his blog, Running a Hospital. Click here to read the entire post and comments.

What do YOU think? We would love to hear from you.

Linda Kenney

Justin Micalizzi Memorial IHI Scholarship

Our colleague, Dale Ann Micalizzi, asked that we share the following announcement. It is a wonderful scholarship opportunity as well as a memorial to a young boy who lost his life due to a medical error.

Justin’s HOPE Project and IHI are pleased to announce the Justin Micalizzi Memorial IHI Scholarship for health caregivers who are committed to pediatric patient safety and providing a safe health care environment for their patients and families. The Scholarship covers the cost of Forum General Conference fees and includes a stipend for travel, lodging, or other conference costs and is intended for those serving vulnerable, underprivileged and underserved pediatric populations. Download scholarship application information or email info@ihi.org to learn more. Deadline is Friday, September 24, 2010.

Click here for more details.

National Patient Safety Day -- July 25th, 2010

MITSS would like to join with the organizers, the World Patient Safety Day Committee, and the thousands of organizations and individuals worldwide in commemorating National, World, and Global Patient Safety Day which will be observed on July 25th. Please take a moment this Sunday to reflect and join in a shared vision of safer healthcare and a shared moment to honor the lives of all patients and family members affected by medical errors and harm.

We would also like to congratulate the Veterans Affairs' (VA) National Surgical Quality Improvement Project (NSQIP) team and PULSEAmerica as they have been chosen the recipients of this year's Florence Nightingale and Dr. E. Codman Patient Safety Day Awards.

For more information, go to www.patientsafetyday.com.

"E-Patient Dave" Joins Speaker Lineup for MITSS Annual Dinner

MITSS is pleased to announce that Dave deBronkart, best known as "e-Patient Dave," will be providing the Opening Remarks for our 9th Annual Dinner to be held on Thursday evening, November 4th, at the Westin Copley Place in Boston, MA.

E-Patient Dave is a cancer patient and blogger who, in 2009, became a noted activist for healthcare transformation through participatory medicine and personal health data rights. The Boston Globe has called him "a recognized online champion of 'participatory medicine'." He is the author of "Laugh, Sing, and Eat Like a Pig: How an Empowered Patient Beat Stage IV Cancer (And What Healthcare Can Learn From It)," just released and available on Amazon.com. The unusual title comes from the positive approach he chose to confronting his disease.

Dave joins a wonderful lineup of speakers for the evening which will feature a Keynote by Dr. Anthony Whittemore, Chief Medical Officer and SVP of Clinical Affairs for the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. And, the Third Annual MITSS HOPE Award will be presented at the event, so save the date -- November 4th, 2010 -- and please join us!

Best Hospitals 2010-11: the Honor Roll

How does your hospital rate? Are you surprised with the results. We'd love to hear from you. Click the click below to read article and the list of the top hospitals in the country.

Best Hospitals 2010-11: the Honor Roll

"Humanity" in the Court System

Check out this interesting article about a judge in New York - a recipient of one of the Obama administration's healthcare reform grants - looking to inject a bit of humanity into the malpractice system.