Danish Society for Patient Safety and WHO Patient Safety Champion, Denmark

I am a patient safety advocate for the Danish Society for Patient Safety. In 2006 my husband died prematurely after a series of miscommunications and resulting medical error. Working at the time in process improvement in an IT company, it felt natural to me to use this experience to help prevent similar adverse events. And so I became a WHO Patients for Patient Safety Champion in 2007. I use my experience in storytelling, as a jumping off point for debate about the importance of acknowledging human error and learning from it. I volunteer my experience as guest lecturer at junior doctors’ communications courses, various public speaking engagements, and in participation in quality improvement work groups in Denmark. My focus is on patient safety from diagnosis through treatment and care, on quality improvement work in general, and on learning from adverse events in particular. To ensure the best possible outcomes for both patients/carers and healthcare professionals all perspectives must be included in healthcare improvement work.