Hamad Medical Corp (HMC) and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) announced yesterday the keynote speakers for its upcoming Middle East Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare.
The annual gathering, now in its seventh year, is attended by around 3,000 healthcare professionals from different organisations and disciplines who come together to pursue their interest in improving the patient experience and safety and quality standards.
The event, which will take place at the Qatar National Convention Centre at the end of March 2019, has an impressive list of keynote speakers whose presentations underpin the Forum’s theme of ‘Patient Safety First.’ 
Dr Nawal al-Tamimi, acting executive director of Hamad Healthcare Quality Institute, which is responsible for organising the Middle East Forum, says quality improvement and patient safety are everyone’s responsibility.
She says the keynote speakers for this year’s conference were selected with that objective in mind.
Dr al-Tamimi noted that the event also provides an ideal opportunity for healthcare professionals to learn and share experiences with peers from other organisations.
Among the numerous international and local speakers who will be part of this year’s Middle East Forum, the event will feature four internationally-renowned plenary speakers. 
Dr Henry Masch, a UK-based neurosurgeon who pioneered the technique of brain surgery under local anaesthetic, thereby allowing patients to converse with their surgeons whilst they operate, minimising the risk of damaging ‘eloquent’ parts of the brain. He is the author of the best-selling book Do No Harm and will share his personal experiences that have shaped his approach to patient care and what he has learned to help him become a better doctor.
Dr Rollin ‘Terry’ Fairbanks, the founding director of the National Centre for Human Factors in Healthcare, Co-Director of the MedStar Telehealth Innovation Center, and Assistant Vice President for Ambulatory Quality & Safety at MedStar Health. A former paramedic, EMS medical director, and general aviation pilot, he is known for inspiring people to think differently about healthcare’s approach to safety and risk.
Leilani Schweitzer, the assistant vice president for Communication & Resolution at The Risk Authority Stanford. She entered this role after her son died following a series of medical mistakes. She now works in Risk Management at the same hospital where those errors happened and uses her own experience with medical errors to navigate between the often insular legal and administrative sides of medical error and the intricate, emotional side of the patient and family experience.
Maureen Bisognano, president emerita and senior fellow at IHI, and a prominent authority on improving health care systems. She advises healthcare leaders around the world on practical ways of introducing real, effective, and sustainable systems change.
The Middle East Forum on Quality and Safety is designed to deliver educational and stimulating sessions for all healthcare professionals on the latest improvement science methodologies, techniques, and programmes to enhance the safety and quality of care of patients.
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