Tackling the healthcare acquired condition (HAC) of workforce harm: Lessons learned from COVID-19

Author's Biography

Patricia Mcgaffigan , RN, MS, CPPS, is Vice President at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement where she is IHI’s senior sponsor for the National Steering Committee for Patient Safety, and President of the Certification Board for Professionals in Patient Safety. She is the former Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President of Safety Programs at the National Patient Safety Foundation. Patricia is a Certified Professional in Patient Safety (CPPS), a graduate of the AHA-NPSF Patient Safety Leadership Fellowship Program and is a member of the Joint Commission National Patient Safety Committee, the Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety Editorial Advisory Board and the Advisory Committee of the Coalition to Improve Diagnosis. Patricia serves as a Board Member of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors and on Planetree’s Person-Centered Certification Committee. Patricia represents IHI on numerous committees, taskforces and professional panels and is a frequent speaker at national and regional conferences. A recipient of the Lifetime Member Award from the American Association of Critical Care Nurses, Patricia received her BS in Nursing from Boston College and her MS in Nursing from Boston University.

Mary Beth Kingston , PhD, RN, FAAN, is the Chief Nursing Officer for Advocate Aurora Health, where she serves as a member of the executive leadership team and is responsible for nursing practice and standards and patient experience. She co-led the National Steering Committee for Patient Safety’s Workforce Safety Subcommittee. She serves on the boards of the Milwaukee Urban League in Milwaukee and the American Hospital Association and is a former board member and president of the American Organization for Nursing Leadership. She is a Robert Wood Johnson Executive Nurse Fellow (2009–2012) and was inducted as a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing in 2020. She earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing at West Chester University, a master’s degree in nursing at the University of Pennsylvania and a PhD in health policy at the University of Sciences in Philadelphia.

Rev. Kathie Bender Schwich , AAS, BA, MDiv, is the Chief Spiritual Officer for Advocate Aurora Health and leads the organisation’s spiritual care, ethics, and physician and team member well-being functions. She is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and holds graduate certificates in healthcare management and patient experience leadership. She serves on the boards of Portico Benefits Services and Lutheran Social Services of Illinois. She is a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Executive Leadership programme and Stanford Medicine’s Chief Wellness Officer Course, a fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives and a frequent speaker on the topics of clinician well-being and spirituality. Kathie received her undergraduate degrees from Saginaw Valley State University and the University of Michigan and her master’s degree from Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN.