The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation (APSF) and The Coalition for Critical Care Excellence (CCCE) Initiate Joint Taskforce

Safety initiatives continue to be refined throughout the continuum of perioperative and extended critical care. Patients commonly travel through these areas, and attention to quality care and patient safety should be universal across all providers and throughout the organization. Defining common goals provides opportunity for anesthesia and critical care practitioners to collaborate on best practices and initiate new approaches to optimize patient safety. Therefore, the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation (APSF), founded in 1986, and the Coalition for Critical Care Excellence (CCCE), founded in 1991, have appointed a Joint Taskforce on Safety to explore a shared vision and mission to improve patient safety throughout the perioperative period.

The goals of the Joint Taskforce are to

• Communicate safety priorities, best practices, and related programs conducted by each association.
• Evaluate and implement partnering opportunities for patient safety.
• Provide updates to the leadership of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) and The Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM).

Members of the Joint Taskforce on Safety include APSF appointees, Jeffrey Cooper, PhD; David Gaba, MD; Robert Morell, MD; and Richard Prielipp, MD (co-chair); and CCCE appointees, Yvonne Harter, MBA; Patricia McGaffigan, RN (co-chair); Marcus Schabacker, MD; and Margaret Parker, MD.

For additional information on the Safety Joint Taskforce please contact by email: Richard Prielipp with the APSF at [email protected], or Patricia McGaffigan with Aspect Medical, representing the CCCE, at [email protected].