I was so pleased when Dr. Jeff Glasheen, Hospital Medicine Director at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, invited me to give a keynote address at the 10th Annual Rocky Mountain Hospital Medicine Symposium in Denver this past week.  The RMHMS has grown into one of the most important hospital medicine gatherings in the nation, with hundreds of attendees–doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and the like.

I was asked to give a talk eliminating patient harm.  Using the lessons from Goal Play!–including a number of stories about coaching 11-year-old girls on soccer teams–I talked about the stages of learning that people go through as they adopt a new framework for their skills or work patterns.  We also discussed the value of making mistakes if leaders avoid blame and criticism and are able to use mistakes as indicators of systemic problems.

I recalled the progress of BIDMC in its journey of eliminating patient harm, including the transparency with which the clinical leaders of the hospital dealt with error..

Many people came up to me after the presentation to discuss issues from their own hospitals and to share stories.  All in all, a pleasant day with a great group of people!