The NC Center for Hospital Quality and Patient Safety is sponsoring the NC Safe Surgery Conference on Wednesday, January 25, 2012, 8:00 am – 4:30 pm, at the McKimmon Conference and Training Center in Raleigh. The conference seeks to bring together organizations and providers committed to making surgical care a safer experience for patients. The focus will be on education and strategies for improving surgical safety in North Carolina.

Topics and Speakers include:

Effectively using a Surgical Safety Checklist to Reduce Surgical Complications

William R. Berry, MD, MPH, FACS, Project Director, Safe Surgery 2015: Harvard School of Public Health

SSI Pathogenesis

National and Local Experts

Wound Classification

Jennifer Zinn, MSN, RN, CNS-BC, CNOR, Clinical Nurse Specialist, Operative Services, Cone Health

Vangela Swafford, RN, BSN, Quality Improvement Facilitator, Cone Health

SS Checklist Implementation at Mission Health Systems

Michael LeCroy, MD, Director of Orthopedic Trauma Services and Medical Director of Perioperative Serivces, Mission Health System

There’s No Magic Wizard in the Journey to Zero Surgical Site Infections

Sharon McNamara, RN, MS, CNOR, Performance Improvement Specialist, NC Quality Center

Patsy Davis, RN, BA, CNOR, Education Resource Specialist-Surgical Services, WakeMed Health and Hospitals

Teamwork and Communication in the Operating Room

John S. Webster, MD, MBA, President, Webster Healthcare Consulting, Inc.

Executive Partnerships

Bryan Sexton, PhD, Director, Duke University Health System Patient Safety Training and Research Center

A Patient’s Perspective on VTE

UNC Blood Clot Outreach Program—Clot Connect

NC Safe Surgery Collaborative Overview

Laura Maynard, Director, Collaborative Learning, NC Quality Center

Keith Mankin, MD, FAAP, WakeMed Health and Hospitals/Raleigh Orthopaedic Clinic

The conference will also mark the official launch of a statewide initiative focused on the implementation of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Surgical Safety Checklist or a modified version of it. The NC Hospital Association is challenging hospitals to commit by October 31, 2011, to using the WHO or modified WHO Checklist, with full implementation by June 30, 2012.

To register, go to: https://www.ncha.org/meetings/registration_index.lasso?e=1159. Registration deadline is January 11, 2012.