May 24, 2002

As improving patient safety becomes a top priority at hospitals around the country, three MGHers were selected for a national fellowship program to advance the process of creating cultures of safety in health care organizations.

Joan Fitzmaurice, RN, PhD, director of the MGH Office of Quality and Safety; Ed Raeke, director of MGH Materials Management; and Nancy Lum, director of MGH Biomedical Engineering, are among 50 fellows from 15 states and Canada selected through a competitive application process for the Patient Safety Leadership Fellowship. The fellowship is sponsored by the American Hospital Association's Health Forum, the National Patient Safety Foundation, the American Organization of Nurse Executives, the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management and the Health Research Education Trust.

The 15-month fellowship is meant to provide opportunities to senior leaders to improve the development of an environment that supports candid discussions of errors, their causes and ways to prevent them.