Patient Safety Champion, Patients for Patient Safety, WHO; Denmark

Katrine Kirk has been a patient safety champion in Denmark since the network was established in 2007. Her three year long struggle with aggressive lymphoma (a type of blood cancer) taught her how very important it is for patients to be active participants in their own care. Several times during her illness, Katrine was able to intervene before just before potentially very dangerous medication errors were about to occur. She has encountered quite a few other breaches to patient safety, which all took place in the context of a hospital inhabited by competent and empathetic doctors and nurses.

Katrine holds an M.Sc. in business administration and has trained in Lean management, and it was quickly clear to her that good people (including staff) were suffering from the effects of poorly designed or poorly implemented systems. She made a promise to herself that if she survived her lymphoma despite her dismal prognosis, she would find a way to help improve the health care system. Becoming a patient safety champion was an important step in that direction, and she has given at least 100 talks about her patient story. Katrine Kirk is also a partner of the healthcare management consulting company PAR3, which she started in 2010. PAR3 specializes in bringing patients’ and caregivers’ perspectives into innovation and improvement initiatives in the health care sector. In her capacity as a management consultant, Katrine assists hospitals and other providers in executing patient engagement strategies, planning change projects, facilitating workshops, giving inspirational talks, and teaching in the Master of Public Health program at Copenhagen Business School.