Maryland Patient Safety Center

Patient Safety Training

Patient safety is defined as “the absence of preventable harm to a patient and reduction of risk of unnecessary harm associated with health care to an acceptable minimum.” According to the World Health Organization, approximately one in every ten patients is harmed in health care and more than 3 million deaths occur annually due to unsafe care. The Maryland Patient Safety Center convenes key stakeholders, provides education, and facilitates opportunities for networking and collaboration with the purpose of building workforce capacity to improve healthcare quality and patient safety.

Everyone plays a role in creating environments, processes and systems that support safe patient care.  MPSC will help to ensure that the tools for patient safety and quality are made available to a wide audience, including patient safety officers, healthcare leaders, as well as front-line nurses, physicians, staff, and other members of the care team.  Register for the courses and events below to learn implementable, effective, and practical applications for healthcare workers to improve patient safety systems and processes. 

Patient Safety Forums

Patient Safety Forums provide an opportunity to come together on key topics in patient safety, to learn, share and exchange best practices and  implementation challenges.  Forums include a one-hour presentation, followed by 30-minutes of facilitated discussion, and a post-event Maryland Patient Safety Center Learning in Action document.

Patient Safety Forums are open and FREE to MPSC members only and are held virtually.

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Additional events, webinars, forums, and protected roundtable discussions available in three high-priority areas of focus:

1:00 PM – 3:00 PM ET (Virtual)
Cost: MPSC Members: FREE (members only)

The Beyond the Report Safe Table series is a bi-monthly virtual training that brings together hospitals and healthcare providers from across the state to foster a learning community. Participants collaboratively explore solutions to adverse events identified in the Maryland Department of Health Office of Healthcare Quality’s annual Patient Safety Program Report.

Device-related hospital-acquired pressure injuries (HAPIs) are a persistent patient safety concern across Maryland, as highlighted in the FY23 report. In a protected Safe Table environment, this session convenes healthcare professionals to explore the root causes of device-related HAPIs, share effective prevention strategies, and discuss collaborative approaches to enhance patient safety statewide. As this is a protected Safe Table environment, a confidentiality agreement must be completed to participate.

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM ET (Virtual)
Cost: MPSC Members: FREE | Non-Members: $45

Join us for a 1-hour webinar showcasing how MedStar Health embedded high reliability principles to build a proactive and resilient safety culture. This session will highlight the organization’s journey toward becoming a high-reliability organization (HRO), with a focus on leadership commitment, frontline engagement, and systemwide cultural transformation.

Participants will explore how the hospital moved beyond traditional Safety-I approaches to embrace proactive safety and Safety-II thinking, focusing not just on what goes wrong but also on how things go right in complex, dynamic environments. Practical strategies, challenges, and lessons learned will be shared to inform other organizations working to advance a more proactive and performance-oriented safety model.

Speaker:

  • Laura Lee, MS, BSN, Assistant Vice President – Patient Safety,  MedStar Institute for Quality and Safety

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM ET (Virtual)
Cost: MPSC Members: FREE | Non-Members: $45

Timely patient movement through the healthcare system is essential to ensuring both patient safety and quality of care.

This 1-hour session features two hospital-based initiatives focused on improving hospital throughput. One team will present their successful strategies for reducing Emergency Department (ED) wait times and enhancing patient flow from arrival to admission. The second team will share their approach to increasing the percentage of patients discharged by noon—a key metric for improving inpatient capacity and the overall patient experience.

Speakers will provide an overview of their interventions, present data-driven outcomes, and reflect on key lessons learned during implementation. They will also discuss common barriers—including workflow redesign, clinician engagement, and capacity limitations—and how they addressed these challenges.

Participants will gain practical insights and strategies that can be adapted to support similar efforts within their own organizations.

Speakers:

  • Lisa Teel, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, Senior Director of Nursing, Critical Care and Emergency Services, Luminis Health Doctors Community Medical Center
  • Muhammad Mohsin Abid, MD, PGY-3, Internal Medicine – QI Pathway, Greater Baltimore Medical Center

8:30 AM – 3:00 PM
In-person at MPSC
Cost: MPSC Members: FREE | MPSC Non-Members: $299

The Root Cause Analysis (RCA) course provides healthcare professionals with the knowledge and skills to systematically investigate and address the underlying causes of medical errors, adverse events, and process inefficiencies. This course covers proven RCA methodologies, including the use of tools like process mapping and fishbone diagrams, to identify root causes and implement effective corrective actions. Through case studies and practical exercises, participants will learn how to enhance patient safety, improve clinical processes, and foster a culture of proactive problem-solving. By the end of the course, healthcare professionals will be equipped to lead RCA initiatives that drive meaningful and sustainable improvements in their organizations.

Speaker: 

  • Debra Illig, DHA, MBA, RN, Vice President Clinical Effectiveness and Patient Safety at Adventist HealthCare

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM ET (Virtual)
Cost: MPSC Members: FREE | Non-Members: $45

This one-hour webinar features the Circle of Honor award-winning project from the University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Medical Center (UM BWMC). The session will spotlight BW CARES (Community, Access, Resources, Education, and Service)—an innovative initiative designed to bridge the gap between hospital-based care and the social realities patients face after discharge.

Participants will learn how the BW CARES Travel Team is transforming post-discharge care by meeting patients where they live. Through home visits and community-based outreach, an interdisciplinary team—including nurses, social workers, pharmacists, and community health workers—identifies and addresses Social Drivers of Health (SDOH) that impact healing, recovery, and long-term outcomes.

The webinar will explore how this model improves patient care, reduces readmissions, and redefines what it means to care for the whole person. Topics include risk stratification, multidisciplinary collaboration, patient-centered strategies, and the real-world impact of understanding a patient’s full environment.

Speakers:

  • Katie Bocchino, MHA, Population Health Project Manager
  • Stephanie Bradfield, RN, CCM, Clinical Manager, Population Health
  • Cheryl Ruff, Sr. Director of Operations for Primary Care and Population Health, Baltimore Washington Medical Center

MPSC operates a listserv for healthcare professionals with an interest in patient safety. The listserv offers a network for shared and experiential learning and is used by MPSC to share upcoming events and information specific to safety in this specialty. MPSC members may use the listserv to pose questions to the group in order to garner feedback, solutions, and gain consensus on topics related to quality care delivery, adverse events, and general patient safety policies and procedures. Please contact mpsc@marylandpatientsafety.org to be enrolled.