HTSI to receive GE Healthcare-AACN Pioneering Spirit Award

The Healthcare Technology Safety Institute (HTSI) — a program of the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation Foundation, Arlington, Va. — will receive the GE Healthcare-AACN Pioneering Spirit Award.

The award, from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) and supported by GE Healthcare, will be presented during AACN's 2013 National Teaching Institute & Critical Care Exposition, Boston, May 18-23. This AACN Visionary Leadership Award recognizes significant contributions that influence high acuity and critical care nursing and relate to the association's mission, vision and values.

Established around the vision that "healthcare technology will advance patient safety and will do no harm," HTSI serves as a model for the pioneering collaboration and commitment of the entire constellation of healthcare professions to the common goal of patient safety.

HTSI aims to engage the healthcare community in multidisciplinary safety initiatives that strengthen the development, management and use of healthcare technology for improved patient outcomes. As the only nonprofit organization focusing exclusively on solving technology-related patient safety issues, HTSI works to bring together the right people from across the healthcare community to address complex "systems" issues related to technology.

HTSI has made noteworthy progress toward addressing complicated, multidisciplinary, interrelated challenges. Its focus is to develop and share best practices, publish safety innovations, identify and fill research needs, close education gaps and reduce errors from the use of healthcare technology. Initiatives currently address infusion systems, clinical alarms, reprocessing of reusable medical devices and interoperability of healthcare technologies.

Its parent organization, the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation, is a diverse community of nearly 7,000 healthcare technology professionals united by one important mission—supporting the healthcare community in the development, management and use of safe and effective medical technology.

Source: Healthcare Technology Safety Institute