OUR MOVIE STAR

On Monday, Children's rolled out their red carpet for Jacob. It was time for Jacob to receive his first Academy Award for best Actor. The super star of the movie "Target Zero". The movie is about what patient safety means to Jacob and us. It takes us back to Christmas of 2008 when Jacob was over dosed on one of his seizure medications. He got a severe reaction to the medication, which was not life-threatening but led to Jacob spending another 24 hours in the hospital. The error was 100% preventable and considered a hospital acquired condition. The message in the video is that we never leave Jacob alone with a health care provider in the hospital. We don't feel Jacob is safe if we're not by his side.

We didn't think much about it when we filmed this video. Joakim and I had many examples to share, and we simply had a conversation with the camera man. Nothing was prepared, we simply talked in to the camera.

The video has had an enormous impact at Children's. All employees and all new hires have watched this 15 minutes long video as part of their patient safety training. We have turned into "celebrities" inside Children's. Staff ask us all the time if we have been in a video? Some people simply can't place us, but think they know us. Some staff is a little scared to care for Jacob, since we have not just had good experiences. They are afraid Jacob will experience another medical error on their shift. For most of them, we are the "Target Zero family".

The hospital has over the last 1,5 years trained over 6000 people on patient safety strategies, but the one piece that made all strategies real is when Jacob shows up on the screen giving a face to medical errors and preventable harm. It's a kid who many of them have cared for, and just shouldn't experience any harm.

But the work doesn't stop here. Patient safety is very close to my heart, and this is one of the areas I continue to be involved with at the hospital. My mission is that every family walking through the doors of Children's Hospital is the "Target Zero family". Until this happens, there is still work to be done!

But let's first pause and cheer on our little movie star!

Have a great weekend everyone! - Maria.