| CAHF Quality Symposium Teaches Us to Learn from Errors |
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In September, California Association of Health Facilities (CAHF) Quality Care Health Foundation presented the annual Quality Symposium, one in Pomona and the other in Berkeley, entitled “Turning Adverse Events into Opportunities for Quality.” The conferences were well attended and featured a lineup of speakers including some CALTCM leaders, including Flora Brahmbhatt Bessey, Pharm.D., and Karl Steinberg, MD, CMD, who both spoke on the topic of avoidable medication errors. Other topics included falls prevention, presented by Sue Ann Guilderman, who is an advocate for reducing the excessive use of interventions like alarms, low beds and floor mats; strategies to avoid rehospitalization, presented by Josh Luke; and safety in the context of organizational culture, presented by Bonnie Noble. At these meetings, CALTCM representatives provided a gift card to the winner of a random sample of attendees who filled out index cards with the name and contact information of their facility’s medical director. We plan to reach out to other facility medical directors to promote CALTCM membership. The evaluations for the meeting were very good, and the sessions each included time to work on an action plan similar to the offerings at CALTCM’s annual meeting the last few years. CALTCM looks forward to continuing to work with CAHF on future Quality Symposia, furthering our common mission to improve the care of the vulnerable population in California’s nursing homes. |