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J U N E 2 0 1 6 O R E X C E L L E N C E . C O M 2 5 I t's disheartening, says anesthesiologist and patient safety expert Kenneth P. Rothfield, MD, MBA, CPE, CPPS, how little patient safety has improved during his lifetime. More than 400,000 U.S. patients die from preventable med- ical errors each year. Only heart disease and cancer kill more Americans. In Dr. Rothfield's presentation, "Patient Safety: 54 Years of Progress … or Stasis?" he'll plot the progress — or lack thereof — that's been made on a 5-decade timeline and challenge you to eliminate the never events that keep happening. • The human element. Try as we might to cre- ate systems that are infallible, there are really no human-proof systems in health care. We have to rely on the vigilance of providers who may unwit- tingly make errors. We also have people who Patient Safety: 54 Years Of Progress … or Stasis? Leadership and culture change are needed to turn the tide. • Member of Physician- Patient Alliance for Health & Safety board of advisors. • Member of Ascension Health's High Reliability Steering Committee. • Earned Maryland Patient Safety Center's "Circle of Honor Award for Innovation in Patient Safety." Kenneth P. Rothfield, MD, MBA, CPE, CPPS Speaker Profile make decisions to bypass policies, procedures and rules that are in place to keep patients safe. They're not trying to hurt anybody, but they engage in risky behavior. And sometimes people are just reckless — though fortunately not very often. But it happens and our patients pay the price for it. • The importance of cul- ture. As much as we'd like a magic bullet for many of these challenges, the solu- tions are cultural and social, not technical. For example, there was a lot of excitement about imple- menting checklists a cou- ple of years ago, but we continue to have issues. Why? Because it's really a function of culture and leadership that make checklists work. As a theo- ry, it sounds great, but the implementation is much trickier. It involves chang-