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A little more than a year ago, the attention of the nation’s health care workers was fixed on Tennessee, where nurse RaDonda Vaught was on trial for the death of one of her patients.
This was the first time a nurse had ever been criminally charged in a medication error resulting in injury or death. Ultimately, RaDonda’s nursing license was revoked and she was convicted of gross neglect of an impaired adult and negligent homicide. On May 13, 2022, Judge Jennifer Smith sentenced her to three years’ probation.
In a rare speaking appearance, RaDonda will share her profoundly personal story at the Hospital Quality Institute’s annual meeting in October in Lake Tahoe. A passionate advocate for safety and improvement, her story will be one that is not easily forgotten and one that reinforces the core tenet from the Institute of Medicine’s landmark 1999 report To Err Is Human: We cannot punish our way to safer medical practices.
I encourage you and your teams to take advantage of this unique opportunity — registration is open now.
In addition to RaDonda, the conference will feature a host of other valuable educational offerings, including a full program related to health equity. Topics include:
- Workforce resilience
- Workplace violence
- Compliance with CMS’ equity requirements
- Maternal and neonatal health outcomes
- HCAI data and hospital measures
- Hospital response after harm
- On-demand language interpretation
The theme for this year’s HQI conference acknowledges three Cs that hospitals continue to experience: “Changes, Challenges, and Champions.” Uncertainty and stress in the delivery of health care swirl around each of you every day, yet we must never lose sight of our commitment to patient safety, and this conference comes at a moment when you and key members of your teams may need — more than any of us realize — to be informed, inspired, and invigorated.
