Circulation 36,825 • Volume 18, No. 1 • Spring 2003

Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation Grant

Announcement New Emphasis Placed on Innovations in Education & Training

The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation (APSF) Grant Program supports research directed toward enhancing anesthesia patient safety. Its major objective is to stimulate studies leading to prevention of mortality and morbidity resulting from anesthesia mishaps. Highest priority is given to studies that address peri-anesthetic (pre-, intra-, and postoperative) problems for relatively healthy patients or those studies that are broadly applicable and that promise improved methods of patient safety with a defined and direct path to implementation into clinical care. Areas of research and educational content interest include, but are not limited to new clinical methods for prevention and/or early diagnosis of mishaps; evaluation of new and/or re-evaluation of old technologies for prevention and diagnosis of mishaps; identification of predictors of patients and anesthetics at increased risk for mishaps; development of innovative methods for the study of low-frequency events; methods for measurement of cost effectiveness of techniques designed to increase patient safety; innovative methods of education and training to improve safety; specific or thematic development of educational content or methods with application to patient safety; and development or testing of educational content to measure and improve safe delivery of perioperative anesthetic care. Priority will be given to topics that do not have other available sources for funding. New this year is the specific emphasis that APSF is placing on education. To recognize the patriarch of what has become a patient safety culture in the United States and internationally, the APSF inaugurated in 2002 the Ellison C. Pierce, Jr., MD, Research Award. The APSF Scientific Evaluation Committee will designate one of the funded proposals as the recipient of this honor that carries with it an additional, unrestricted award of $5,000.

Please see the APSF website at www.apsf.org for guidelines, application format, and additional information. Please note that starting with the 2004 funding cycle, all applications must be submitted electronically. Applications must be received no later than Monday, June 16, 2003 (late applications will not be accepted).