Banner Health part of $4.7 million grant to look at medical errors
PHOENIX (Nov. 29, 2007) The James S. McDonnell Foundation recently awarded $4.7 million to a consortium—led by researchers at Arizona State University and Banner Health—to seek ways of reducing preventable medical errors.
The grant funds, which will be shared with researchers at the University of Texas-Houston and Washington University in St. Louis, will be used to study the processes underlying critical care decision-making to identify weaknesses and how they can be corrected. The goal is to produce model systems for improving error detection and correction in emergency
"The funding is going to be used to study how Banner healthcare providers make clinical decisions in critical situations by studying the Trauma Service, Emergency Department, and our electronic ICU,'' said Marshall Smith, MD, PhD., clinical director of the Banner Simulation Education and Training Center, and counsel for the Banner Health System for simulation and telemedicine.
"The more we know about that decision-making process and how errors can occur, the better we can train to prevent them. The findings will be used to build training programs throughout the Banner Simulation Training Program that will reduce errors and improve patient care, thus helping Banner to continue to make a difference in people's lives through excellent patient care."
Robert H. Groves, MD, medical director for Critical Care-Banner Health, and medical director of Intensive Care, e -ICU, also will be a key player in the study.
Vimla Patel, PhD, DSc, professor and vice chair of the Department of Biomedical Informatics at ASU’s Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering, will lead the project.
The research partners will sponsor a conference each year during the five-year project as a way to explore the applications of their work with other science and healthcare groups.
