IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Patient Safety Movement Foundation (PSMF) has named long-time patient safety advocate Jannicke Mellin-Olsen, MD, DPH, to its Board of Directors. In addition to her full-time clinical post in Bærum Hospital in Oslo, Norway, Dr. Mellin-Olsen serves as Secretary of the European Society of Anesthesiology and President-Elect of the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists.
“We feel very fortunate to have Dr. Mellin-Olsen join our board,” said Joe Kiani, Founder and Chairman of the Patient Safety Movement Foundation. “For over 25 years, Dr. Mellin-Olsen has been extremely active internationally in promoting safe anesthesiology practices, dedicating her life to saving patients from avoidable harm and death. With the help of respected and committed leaders like Dr. Mellin-Olsen, we hope to one day eliminate all preventable patient deaths on every continent.”
Dr. Mellin-Olsen began working on patient safety initiatives during her residence training at Trondheim University Hospital, Norway, where she earned her specialty in 1992. She is currently full-time practicing clinical anaesthesiologist in Bærum Hospital, Norway. She has served in the UN Peace Keeping Forces in Lebanon and for the Red Cross in Pakistan and Serbia, and for 10 years, she was the medical director for Europe, Middle East, and Africa for MedAire, Inc., which provides remote medical services to patients in the air and at sea. While serving on the European Board of Anaesthesiology, she chaired the Patient Safety and Quality Committee, and later, during her presidency, she was the driving force for the landmark Helsinki Declaration on Patient Safety in Anaesthesiology, which launched in 2010. Dr. Mellin-Olsen also serves as the Foundation’s Regional Network Chair, spreading the mission of the Foundation to stakeholders across Europe. She is the Secretary of the European Society of Anaesthesiology and the President-Elect of the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists.
“I’m honored to serve on the Board of Directors of the Patient Safety Movement Foundation, a natural extension of my patient safety advocacy work around the world,” said Dr. Mellin-Olsen. “When a patient entrusts the health system with his or her life, it is our sworn duty as clinicians to protect that patient from any preventable harm. I look forward to helping expedite their efforts internationally and involve more stakeholders across the globe in their mission to eliminate preventable deaths in hospitals.”
The Patient Safety Movement Foundation board members include; Dr. Steven Barker, Professor Emeritus of Anesthesiology, University of Arizona, and CSO of Masimo; Robin Betts, MBA-HM, RN, Assistant Vice President of Quality of Patient Safety; Alicia Cole, Executive Director of the Alliance for Safety Awareness for Patients; Omar Ishrak, Chairman and CEO of Medtronic plc; David Mayer, MD, Vice President of Quality and Safety for MedStar Health; Jim Messina, CEO of The Messina Group; Charlie Miceli, Vice President of Information Systems & Supply Chain for Fletcher Allen Health Care; Tamra E. Minnier, RN, MSN, FACHE, Chief Quality Officer, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center; Steven Moreau, President & Chief Executive Officer of St. Joseph Hospital; and Michael A. E. Ramsay, MD, FRCA, Chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology, Baylor University Medical Center, and President of the Baylor Research Institute.
About the Patient Safety Movement Foundation
More than 200,000 people die every year in U.S. hospitals in ways that could have been prevented. The Patient Safety Movement Foundation was established through the support of the Masimo Foundation for Ethics, Innovation, and Competition in Healthcare, to reduce that number of preventable deaths to 0 by 2020 (0x2020). Improving patient safety will require a collaborative effort from all stakeholders, including patients, healthcare providers, medical technology companies, government, employers, and private payers. The Patient Safety Movement Foundation works with all stakeholders to address the problems and solutions of patient safety. The Foundation also convenes Patient Safety, Science and Technology summits. The first annual Summit was held in January 2013 and brought together some of our nation’s best minds for thought-provoking discussions and new ideas to challenge the status quo. By presenting specific, high-impact recipes to meet patient safety challenges, encouraging medical technology companies to share the data for whom their products are purchased, and asking hospitals to make commitments to implement Actionable Patient Safety Solutions, the Foundation is working toward zero preventable deaths by 2020. Visit http://patientsafetymovement.org/.
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