New Patient Safety Film to Debut at Joint Commission Medical Liability Conference, Tuesday November 9th

First, Do No Harm Part 3: Healing Lives, Changing Cultures is long awaited sequel to story of systems failure and its challenging impact on the lives of families and care givers

CHICAGO, November 4, 2004 - Partnership for Patient Safety (p4ps) announced today that the newest in its acclaimed series of video-based patient safety learning tools will premiere at A Prescription for Patient Safety and Medical Liability: New Solutions to an Old Dilemma, a symposium sponsored by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) and Joint Commission Resources. The conference will be held at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center, Alexandria, VA, November 8-9, 2004.

First, Do No Harm Part 3: Healing Lives, Changing Cultures was developed by Chicago-based p4ps and Captains of Industry, a film-making and communications company located in Boston. Drawn from actual medical malpractice claims files, the First, Do No Harm series follows the fate of Ariana Romanov, a healthy, pregnant woman who step by step falls between the cracks of the healthcare system, with tragic results. Part 1, produced in 2000 - just months after the Institute of Medicine highlighted medical error as a serious public health epidemic - depicts the trajectory of failure in care experienced by Mrs. Romanov, her husband and her medical care providers, as small mistake built on small mistake. Part 2, which debuted in 2002, examined initial reactions as all of the people involved struggled to cope with tragedy. Both films have been widely used by patient safety leaders and educators across the globe.

"Part 3 of the First, Do No Harm series breaks new ground," said Martin J. Hatlie, Esq., president of p4ps, "by focusing on the human impact of medical error and the need for healing of both people and healthcare organizations. Reflecting emerging research on the importance of apology and creating medico-legal culture that can be trusted to be just, the film is designed as a tool for clinicians and healthcare organizations that endeavor to be safer and more patient centered. Healthcare providers face increasing expectations to be honest and humane in responding to both patients and the medical personnel who are involved when patient injuries occur, but the skill set isn't deep and the fear of liability is powerful and chilling," added Hatlie.

"Healthcare executive, physician, and nursing leaders must radically change their thinking about medical mistakes," says Dennis S. O'Leary, MD, president, Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. "We need to create a culture of safety in hospitals and other healthcare organizations in which errors are openly discussed and studied so that solutions can be found and put in place."

"Our goal was to develop compelling, reality-based tools that find a balance between humanizing the patient safety challenge and providing real learning content for our healthcare customers," said Fred Surr, Principal of Captains of Industry. "We have received great feedback on our format, which couples dramatized case study with tutorials from safety scientists, patients who have experienced system failure, media relations experts and dispute mediators, among others," he stated. "Contributing our skills to developing solutions that can save lives has been extremely satisfying work."

First, Do No Harm Part 3: Healing Lives, Changing Cultures debuts on November 9, 2004 at 7:30 AM, Hilton Alexandria Mark Center Hotel, Plaza Ballroom B and C.

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About Partnership for Patient Safety (p4ps)

Established in 2000, p4ps is a patient centered initiative to advance the reliability of healthcare systems worldwide. Guided by a panel of distinguished advisors, it offers numerous products and services focused on patient safety.

About Captains of Industry (COI)

COI tells stories - in a variety of media - to make communications that cannot be ignored. When companies, or whole industries, need to transform themselves in order to adapt and thrive, they turn to Captains of Industry for integrated strategic marketing campaigns. Captains of Industry combines the resources of a full-service marketing agency with the capabilities of a first-rate film/video production company. Their work for numerous for profit and non-profit companies includes everything from print ad campaigns, to CD-ROMs, to innovative video productions for the Web.

About Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (Joint Commission) and Joint Commission Resources (JCR)

An independent, not-for-profit organization, the Joint Commission is the nation's predominant standards-setting and accrediting body in healthcare. The Joint Commission's mission is to continuously improve the safety and quality of care provided to the public through the provision of healthcare accreditation and related services that support performance improvement in healthcare organizations.

JCR is a global, knowledge-based organization which disseminates information regarding accreditation, standards development and compliance, good practices, and healthcare quality improvement. JCR is a Joint Commission affiliate dedicated to helping healthcare organizations world-wide improve the quality of patient care and achieve peak performance.

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For more information about the JCAHO/JCR conference, A Prescription for Patient Safety and Medical Liability: New Solutions to an Old Dilemma, Alexandria, VA, November 8-9, 2004, see www.jcrinc.com/education.asp?durki=6996&site=5&return=6118

For more information about the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, contact Charlene Hill at (630) 792-5175 or via email at chill@jcaho.org

For more information on Captains of Industry, contact Ted Page at (617) 236-7577, ext. 202, or via email at ted@captainsofindustry.com

For more information about Partnership for Patient Safety, contact Mitchell Dvorak, at (312) 274-9695 or via email at mdvorak@patientsafety.org