December is often a time for celebration through song, and of reflection on the previous eleven months. With these two points in mind, read the following (internally or out loud) to the tune of 12 Days of Christmas. One Community Birth Data Registry launch in May. Since the start of OB COAP in 2010, we...

Our pacific northwest is headed into the “big dark,” which somehow always catches me off-guard. As we transition, many use this time for introspection – indoor time to look inside ourselves and thank those who fill our lives. I appreciate November’s time of giving thanks and want to spend this blog as an opportunity to...

We are pleased to present our 20th annual Northwest Patient Safety Conference this October 17 and 18, “Bringing Patient Safety To Life: What’s worked, what hasn’t, and what to do about it,” presented with Health Quality British Columbia and the Oregon Patient Safety Commission. Over these two days, we will focus on solutions rather than...

Our Surgical and Spine Care Outcomes Assessment Programs (COAPs) are holding a return to in-person Annual Meetings on Wednesday, September 13th from 8:00am to 4:45pm PT at the Conference Center at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. A virtual option will also be available for those unable to attend in-person. See our agenda and register here: 2023 SCOAP and Spine COAP...

Families who choose to give birth at home or in a freestanding birth center deserve the best possible care when plans change and they need to access hospital services. Smooth Transitions™ is dedicated to enhancing the safety of these hospital transfers. Our program began within the Washington State Perinatal Collaborative at the Washington State Department...

Our health care ecosystem is filled with fantastic, dedicated, and talented people, but working within an imperfect system can still result in patient harm. Transparency and a framework to be able to learn when harms occur is pivotal to a high-quality health care state. Washington State has been a national leader in responding to patient...

This June we celebrate 25 years of care outcomes assessment. Hard to believe that our Cardiac COAP started in the ‘90s – and has since grown into obstetrical care, general surgery, and spine surgery. These four have proven to be valuable parts of our health care ecosystem, allowing the type of physician-driven health care improvement...

Don’t boil the ocean often comes up in health care. We can’t do everything, or at least we can’t change every single piece of a complicated system all at once. When we discuss areas of health care to improve, our goal of healthy, happy, and thriving Washingtonians can seem vast. Often, identifying a problem can...

Lately my mind has been percolating around the twin challenges to our collective future of artificial intelligence and global warming. As the mother of two young kids, I must believe in a future where they will be able to experience joy and purpose. Both elements throw doubt on my predictive ability how my little ones...

Trust is delicate, needing time to establish, and hard to maintain. Trust between a person and their clinician has immense implications for successful diagnosis and then management, treatment, and healing. Clinicians must trust the health care system in which they practice, systems must trust clinicians and other staff, and we all must trust (to some...