National Patient Safety Foundation Announces 2009 Research Grant Recipients

The National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF) Research Grants Program recently awarded grants totaling nearly $200,000 in funding for patient safety research projects beginning in 2009. This year’s recipients are Ayse Gurses, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at Johns Hopkins University, and Alexa Doig, PhD, RN, Assistant Professor, University of Utah College of Nursing.

Dr. Gurses’ study, “Improving Patient Trajectory Management and Care Coordination with a Multidisciplinary Checklist,” will investigate methods for improving the coordination of care in complex and multidisciplinary healthcare environments, drawing upon human factors and cognitive systems engineering theories as a conceptual framework. Dr. Gurses is the recipient of the James S. Todd Memorial Research Grant.

Dr. Doig’s project, “Identifying the Cognitive Dimensions of Failure to Rescue,” will use a mixed-methods approach to explore the role of cognitive factors in nurses’ response to patients with life-threatening clinical complications. Dr. Doig is the recipient of the NPSF Board Grant.

The National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF) Research Grants Program seeks to stimulate new, innovative projects directed toward enhancing patient safety in the United States. The Program's objective is to promote studies leading to the prevention of human errors, system errors, patient injuries, and the consequences of such adverse events in the healthcare setting. Since 1998, the Program has supported 32 research projects with a total of nearly $3.2 million in grant funding. Many of these grants have been awarded to interdisciplinary teams to support research on diverse topics in areas such as medication errors, organizational design, and disclosure or communication issues.

NPSF research funding is made possible in part by generous contributions from the American Medical Association and its support of the James S. Todd Memorial Research Grant, awarded by NPSF to one investigator each year, and by NPSF Board members through their support of the NPSF Board Grant. NPSF promotes co-sponsorship initiatives with other organizations in order to increase available funding for research. For more information or to discuss co-sponsorship opportunities please contact dcoletta@npsf.org.

For more information regarding NPSF’s Research Program or the grant application process, please visit www.npsf.org or email research@npsf.org.

The National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1997 to enhance the safety of the healthcare system and implement safeguards to prevent patient injury. Founding sponsors included the American Medical Association, 3M Corporation, and CNA HealthPro. For more information please visit www.npsf.org.