ECRI Institute Offers Free Educational Web Conference on Top 10 Health Technology Hazards

February 23 Web conference to address prevention of common patient safety hazards

PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa.

, Jan. 31, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- ECRI Institute, (www.ecri.org), an independent nonprofit that researches the best approaches to improving patient care, is offering a free educational webinar, "2011 Top 10 Health Technology Hazards," Wednesday, February 23, 2011 from 1:00 – 2:30 pm Eastern Time. The 60-minute presentation will be followed a question and answer period.

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Designed for hospital clinical engineers, materials managers, risk managers and executive-level leaders, the free webinar will focus on ECRI Institute's 2011 list of the top 10 health technology hazards that warrant critical attention by hospitals in the coming year. The list—originally published in ECRI Institute's Health Devices journal (Nov. 2010), offers detailed descriptions of these hazards and actionable steps for avoiding them. The list has become a well-respected roadmap for hospitals and health systems worldwide in their efforts to prioritize technology-related patient safety efforts.

"Every healthcare provider organization worldwide should be developing self-sustaining networks of health technology safety champions," says James P. Keller, Jr., vice president, health technology evaluation and safety, ECRI Institute. "To that end, this seminar equips hospital leadership with the knowledge and materials needed to lead focused, high-impact initiatives to prevent recurring patient safety hazards involving medical technology, such as radiation overdose, defibrillator failure, and cross-contamination from flexible endoscopes."  

The webinar will also include information on best practices in safety and alert management. Seminar attendees will learn to identify and locate devices that pose risk, avoid common missteps in hazard and recall management, and establish executive buy-in for the alert process.  

Speakers include:

• Eric Sacks, Director, Healthcare Product Alerts, ECRI Institute
• Maria Garrity, Alerts Tracker™ Customer Support and Training, ECRI Institute

Registration is required for this event, and space is limited. To learn more and to register for the event, go to: https://www.ecri.org/Conferences/Pages/2011_Top_10_Hazards.aspx. Or, contact ECRI Institute at (610) 825-6000, ext. 5382; by e-mail at [email protected]; by fax at (610) 834-0240; or by mail at 5200 Butler Pike, Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462-1298, USA.

About ECRI Institute
ECRI Institute, a nonprofit organization, dedicates itself to bringing the discipline of applied scientific research to healthcare to discover which medical procedures, devices, drugs, and processes are best to enable improved patient care.  As pioneers in this science for more than 40 years, ECRI Institute marries experience and independence with the objectivity of evidence-based research. ECRI Institute is designated a Collaborating Center of the World Health Organization and an Evidence-based Practice by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. ECRI Institute PSO is listed as a federally certified Patient Safety Organization by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. For more information, visit https://www.ecri.org.

SOURCE ECRI Institute