President's Message

Patient Safety is at the Heart of What We Do

In some cases, meaning gets lost behind a string of words. 

For example, Patient Safety Awareness Week — which we celebrated earlier this month — highlights the role of patient safety professionals and their mission: advancing safety, improving quality, and reducing harm. 

But what does that mean, really? 

For us at HQI, it means supporting the dedicated teams that comprise the front lines of care. These are the people who persevered through the toughest time we’ve had in a century. They deserve our thanks. 

However, this week is more than just a chance to say “thanks.” It’s a reminder that for our patient safety professionals to carry out this mission they must remain mindful of their own wellness. They must care for themselves in order to care for us — a key aspect of your mission that can be overlooked during the stress and hectic nature of your jobs. 

That’s the reason why you’re here — to help keep patients safe and healthy. HQI works toward that goal through tools like its Hospital Quality Improvement Platform, which provides comparative analytics allowing hospitals to identify opportunities for improvement and areas for focus, and CHPSOData, the patient safety reporting platform that uses analytics to help HQI members eliminate preventable harm.  

These tools are at the heart of our mission of patient safety. At HQI, we’re working toward a statewide culture of improvement to inspire, engage, and achieve results. We’re setting priorities for statewide impact and telling the story of patient safety in California.  

With your help, we’ll keep building on those stories. Not just words strung together, or lip service to some cause, but real stories of success. Stories about people doing what they love and fulfilling their call to care for and help others.