Health disparities and unequal care contribute to patient and family harm. This 3-component workshop series explored ethnic and racial disparities in health care. A planned September workshop will revisit the findings from the three sessions.

Patient safety is a global challenge for the health care community. This webinar coincided with World Patient Safety Day and presented two tracks for both the profession and the public that highlighted issues impacting maternal care safety and high reliability. Those who have lost their lives to medical error were also honored during the event. The session speakers included Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, MSc, Jeff Brady, MD, and Albert Wu, MD.  

Maternal safety is challenged by clinical, equity, and social influences. This virtual event examined maternal health conditions in the United States to improve health system practice and performance for this population. Discussions addressed the need for better data collection, evidence-based practice, and social determinants knowledge integration to enhance the safety of care.

Surveys are established mechanisms for organizational assessment of safety culture. This collection of webinars provides an overview of the AHRQ Surveys on Patient Safety Culture™ (SOPS®) and a range of content related to the successful use of the surveys. Topics covered include organizational characteristics required for successful web-based distribution of the survey and best practices for formatting, programming, and administering the surveys in a variety of environments. 

Patients injured while receiving health care are susceptible to physical, financial and psychological harm. This webinar introduced strategies to rebuild the physical health of these patients and the trust that they and their loved ones have in the system of care.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) hosted the 2005 Annual Patient Safety and Health Information Technology Conference. Transcripts and slide presentations are available from the five-day event.