Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) has announced two keynote speakers for this year’s Middle East Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare who will offer delegates different perspective on healthcare provision.
One of the keynote speakers is a life-long patient, Tiffany Christensen, who was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis when she was six-months old. At 12 years of age, she had her first stay in a hospital. She has lived with chronic, acute and terminal illness – overcoming obstacles.
Christensen has written two books and presented over a thousand lectures to healthcare providers, patients, and families. She works to better connect healthcare systems and patients, helping patients, and their families, navigate physical, emotional, and spiritual terrain they face. She will share her experience at the conference with the aim of bridging gap between patient perspective and the provider experience.
Another speaker on safety is Professor Najmedin Meshkati, an expert on interface between humans and technology. For the past 30 years, he has been teaching and conducting research on risk reduction and reliability enhancement of complex technological systems, including nuclear power, aviation, petrochemical, and transportation industries.
He was technical advisor on two national panels in the United States investigating major recent accidents: The NAS/NRC Committee “Lessons Learned from the Fukushima Nuclear Accident for Improving Safety and Security of US Nuclear Plants” (2012-2014); and the NAE/NRC “Committee on the Analysis of Causes of the Deepwater Horizon Explosion, Fire, and Oil Spill to Identify Measures to Prevent Similar Accidents in the Future” (2010-2011).
Professor Meshkati has inspected several petrochemical and nuclear power plants around the world, including Chernobyl (1997), Fukushima Daiichi, and Daini (2012). He has worked with the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board as an expert on human factors and safety culture and on the investigation of the BP Refinery explosion in Texas City (2005).
He will be able to provide delegates with a unique view on working with technology and how risks can be managed.
Dr Ron Wyatt, HMC’s Chief Quality Officer said: “When we think about quality and safety in healthcare, we often think about it from the view of a healthcare provider. Whilst this is helpful and a lot can be learned through speaking with colleagues, sharing best practice and lessons learned. But it won’t give us the full picture. We need to understand the patient perspective to be able to continuously improve quality of care we provide. I am delighted that Tiffany is speaking at this year’s Forum and I know delegates will find her talk inspiring.
“We are also lucky to have Professor Meshkati sharing his insights on human technical interface. He has worked to investigate some of the most infamous technological incidents of recent times and hearing from him will be invaluable to gain better understanding of risks that can arise through human interactions with technology,” Dr. Wyatt said.
The fifth Middle East Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare will take place from May 5 to 7, 2017 at Qatar National Convention Centre, Doha.
