Perspectives

Dr. Berwick is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI). A pediatrician and professor at both Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health, he is generally acknowledged as one of the foremost experts and leaders in health care quality and patient safety. He has published more than 100 articles and several books, has been the recipient of several major honors and awards, and was recently named an honorary Knight Commander of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II. In December 2004, he announced an IHI-led "Campaign to Save 100,000 Lives"—promoting the implementation of evidence-based interventions to improve patient safety and decrease mortality in six clinical areas. In less than a year, the campaign has already signed up nearly half the hospitals in the United States.

Dr. Carolyn Clancy has been the Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) since 2003. Prior to becoming AHRQ Director, she led the Agency's Center for Outcomes and Effectiveness Research. A general internist and health services researcher, she has published widely in the peer reviewed literature on a variety of topics, ranging from quality improvement to primary care. She is a member of the Institute of Medicine and a Master of the American College of Physicians.

Barbara A. Blakeney, MS, RN, is President of the 150,000-member American Nurses Association (ANA). A nurse practitioner and expert in public health practice, policy, and primary care, Ms. Blakeney is on leave from the Boston Public Health Commission, where she has been director of health care services for the homeless. She is the recipient of numerous awards and has been named to Modern Healthcare Magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in health care for the past 3 years.

Peter J. Pronovost, MD, PhD, is Medical Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Innovation in Quality Patient Care. A practicing anesthesiologist and critical care physician, he has appointments in both The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and its Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Pronovost's research, which has focused on how to improve patient safety and quality in the ICU setting, has been characterized by a blend of methodologic sophistication and practical attention to the details of making change happen and making it stick. His many contributions include studies of the value of intensivists, of the use of daily goal cards on safety and communication, of an executive adopt-a-unit strategy, and of a comprehensive unit-based safety program. For this work, much of which has been supported by AHRQ, he was awarded the John M. Eisenberg Award in Research Achievement in 2004.

In October 2004, in what immediately became a landmark paper in patient safety, Dr. Landrigan and his colleagues reported the results of their study on sleep deprivation and medical errors among interns. The AHRQ-funded study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, revealed 36% more serious errors and 5.6 times more serious diagnostic errors among interns working a traditional schedule of more than 24 hours in a row than among interns working shorter shifts (1). We spoke with Dr. Landrigan, an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, about his research and his thoughts on how the study findings might affect residency training in the future.