St. Francis MDs, pharmacist honored for patient safety leadership

INDIANAPOLIS – The Indianapolis Patient Safety Coalition today (Nov. 25) recognized St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers medical leaders as recipients of the coalition’s 2008 Patient Safety Hero Awards.

Awards were presented to the coalition’s co-founders, Dr. Donald J. Kerner, associate chief medical officer at St. Francis, and Dr. Glenn Bingle, vice president for medical and academic affairs at Community Health Network. Kerner serves as the coalition’s vice chair and Bingle serves as chair.

Both were specifically cited for their visionary leadership to improve patient safety to medical facilities in the Indianapolis area.

Two others from St. Francis also were among others recognized for their efforts to promote medical safety. Pulmonologist Charles E. Kinsella, M.D., and pharmacist Therese Staublin have lead a team to establish a standardized process for systematic reporting, tracking, documentation and analysis of medication errors to adopt a system-wide approach to analyze adverse events and trends across incidents.

The Patient Safety Hero awards are given to individuals or groups at each member hospital that have championed a specific patient safety project.

Established in 2003, the coalition is comprised of chief executive, medical, nursing and pharmacy officers from Indianapolis and surrounding county hospitals. In addition, there is participation by entities such as Eli Lilly and Company, WellPoint, Inc., Indiana University, Purdue University and the Regenstrief Institute, Inc. #