by
Sean Ruck, Contributing Editor | May 16, 2016
From the May 2016 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
My predecessor at AAMI was the first CEO and was in that role for 40 years. It could have been very difficult to follow such a long-term leader, but the board and staff really welcomed me and the partnership with the board and staff has been incredible through my entire tenure.
HCB News: What have been some of the highlights?
ML: One of the most personally rewarding highlights has been the growth trajectory of the AAMI Foundation since 2010, when we first made a major commitment to turn the Foundation into a place where multidisciplinary stakeholders work together to solve tough patient safety issues around the adoption and use of health care technology.
One of the big programs that the Foundation has been recognized for is clinical alarm management — AAMI was instrumental in creating visibility for the problem of alarm fatigue and we held a summit on it in 2011. We were stunned with the response. We pushed and kept working at it with projects assigned to the AAMI Foundation, and then the Joint Commission made alarm management a national patient safety goal and we were recognized by the Joint Commission when they set that goal. The Foundation’s National Coalition on Alarm Management developed a fantastic compendium last year on how to comply with the Joint Commission’s National Patient Safety Goal, and this year they are wrapping up some additional big projects on alarm management.
Mary at her
high school graduation
The AAMI Foundation also has a national coalition on opioid safety — addressing the major risk of respiratory depression for patients on opioids. And, the Foundation has produced some great deliverables on infusion safety as well.
If you were to ask my staff for other highlights during the past eight years, they would flag the AAMI/FDA summits that we started in 2010 and have continued every year since then. We pick tough technology-oriented issues that need to be addressed in a multidisciplinary way — and then we co-convene this annual event with the FDA and publish a report based on the outcomes developed by the attendees at the event.
