Up Next for Patient Safety

Welcome to the Up Next for Patient Safety podcast.

There’s an epidemic in our country for which we have no vaccine: the death rate from preventable medical error that kills about 250,000 Americans a year. But there are powerful solutions available, solutions that work in other high risk, complex industries, that could be applied to health care.

Our podcast series, Up Next for Patient Safety, engages with experts in health care and technology to examine the best paths to guaranteeing patient safety. Hear from national thought leaders about the leading solutions to existing problems that are possible right now. We have the capacity during the “once in a century” pandemic to gain the attention and support of a nation to address the current and ongoing errors and adverse events that cause unnecessary illness, death, and long-term disability. Up Next for Patient Safety is executive produced and hosted by Karen Wolk Feinstein.

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Up Next for Patient Safety Episodes:

Episode 23: Where Is the System?

How can health care address the systemic challenges that have impeded progress on safety for decades? What lessons can be learned from other industries that have made safety a top priority? Join host Karen Wolk Feinstein and guests Nancy Leveson, professor, engineer, and systems safety expert, and Dr. Michael Shabot, physician, former healthcare executive, and expert in high-reliability healthcare safety and quality, for a thought-provoking discussion on how we can build a safer future for both patients and workers.

Episode 22: Meeting the Challenge

Join host Karen Wolk Feinstein and young entrepreneur Reetam Ganguili, star of the documentary The Pitch: Patient Safety’s Next Generation, for a glimpse into the exciting potential for technology to transform patient safety.

Episode 21: Looking Toward the Future Part 3

Join host Karen Wolk Feinstein and health system CEO and futurist Josh Luke for a compelling conversation on the keys to changing the status quo and bolstering the industry for a stronger future.

Episode 20: Looking Toward the Future Part 2

Join Dr. Robert Pearl, a leading medical voice and premiere visionary, and host Karen Wolk Feinstein as they share reasons for optimism about the future of the healthcare industry.

Episode 19: Looking Toward the Future Part 1

Join futurist Ian Morrison and host Karen Wolk Feinstein for an eye-opening expedition through the business of health care and the innovations that hold the promise to transform it—for both patients and providers.

Episode 18: Simulation Transformation

Join host Karen Wolk Feinstein and guests Lance Baily of Healthysimulation.com and Dr. Paul Phrampus of the Peter M. Winter Institute for Simulation, Education and Research, for glimpse into the future of healthcare simulation and how it can transform safety for both patients and providers.

Episode 17: Engineering Systems for Safety

Join host Karen Wolk Feinstein and guests Dr. Chris LeMaster and Tina Vitale-McDowell, both emergency department leaders, for a dive into how systems engineering approaches can address some of the biggest challenges in healthcare safety and what we can learn from the lived experiences of our frontline workers.

Episode 16: Designing Safety with Urgency

Join two award-winning researchers, Dr. Hardeep Singh of Baylor College of Medicine and the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, and Dr. Jason Adelman of Columbia University Medical Center/New York-Presbyterian Hospital, along with filmmaker Mike Eisenberg of Tall Tale Productions, for a glimpse into the pioneering patient safety research happening today and the promise of tech-enabled solutions to equip clinicians in designing safer systems.

Episode 15: Proposing New Partnerships

Join guests Leah Binder, president & CEO of The Leapfrog Group; former NTSB chair Chris Hart, founder of Hart Solutions; Dr. Najmedin Meshkati, professor of Civil/Environmental Engineering, Industrial & Systems Engineering, and International Relations at the University of Southern California; and healthcare executive and patient safety leader Julie Morath, member of the IHI Lucian Leape Institute and PCAST Patient Safety Work Group, for a deep dive into the potential to create meaningful partnerships among patient safety related organizations and finally make substantial progress on preventing harms before they occur.

Up Next for Patient Safety Episode 14 The Great Resignation

Episode 14: The Great Resignation

Join physician leader Dr. Christine Sinsky, vice president of professional satisfaction at the American Medical Association, and nursing leader Dr. Terry Fulmer, president of The John A. Hartford Foundation, for a striking conversation about the extent of the crisis facing the healthcare workforce and what steps we can take to reverse this devastating trend.

Up Next for Patient Safety Ep. 13 Lessons from a Netflix Film

Episode 13: Lessons from a Netflix Film

Join aviation journalist Andy Pasztor, formerly of the Wall Street Journal and a central figure in the Netflix documentary, and transportation safety expert Chris Hart, founder of Hart Solutions LLC, pilot, attorney and former chair of the NTSB, for a fascinating conversation on how a “culture of speed” at Boeing depicted in a recent Netflix documentary, “Downfall: The Case Against Boeing,” led to tragic consequences and how to protect safety in our revenue-driven approach to health care.

Up Next for Patient Safety Episode 12 Systemic Solutions

Episode 12: Systemic Solutions

Join Dr. Kathleen Sutcliffe, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins University and author of Still Not Safe, and Dr. Vivian Lee, president of health platforms at Verily Life Sciences and author of The Long Fix, for a glimpse into the potential for a collaborative, tech-enabled transformation of healthcare safety.

Up Next for Patient Safety: Episode 11 England & Norway Chart the Course

Episode 11: England & Norway Chart the Course

Join Dr. Carl Macrae, professor of Organizational Behavior and Psychology at Nottingham University Business School in England, and Dr. Siri Wiig, professor of Quality and Safety in Healthcare Systems at the University of Stavanger in Norway, for an inside look into the forces that caused both England and Norway to recently establish national agencies solely focused on addressing safety problems in health care. Learn what inspired action on patient safety and the tactics that helped to build broad support for the endeavors.

Episode 10: Doctors Evaluating Doctors

Join internist and professor Dr. Thomas Gallagher of the Departments of Medicine and Bioethics and Humanities and associate chair for Patient Care Quality, Safety, and Value at the University of Washington, and pediatrics professor Dr. Gerald Hickson, chair of Medical Education and Administration and founding director of the Center for Patient and Professional Advocacy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, as they discuss the concept of physician peer review and how to increase accuracy of and accountability for performance data to reduce medical error.

Up Next for Patient Safety Episode 09 Transforming Physician Culture

Episode 09: Transforming Physician Culture

Join physician Dr. Seth Wolk, adjunct professor in the Department of Health Management and Policy in the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan, and technology design researcher John Zimmerman, Tang Family Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Human-Computer Interaction in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, as they explore the human context for medical error – and how we can get physicians on board with innovative technologies that could make the healthcare system safer.

Up Next for Patient Safety: Looking Back to Move Forward

Episode 08: Looking Back to Move Forward

In a special episode to kick off the new year, three renowned leaders in patient safety offer critical insight on where we’ve come from and how to move forward. Join host Karen Wolk Feinstein and special guest co-host Martin Hatlie of Project Patient Care and MedStar Institute for Quality & Safety in a compelling conversation with Dr. Carolyn Clancy of the Veterans Health Administration, Dr. Kenneth Kizer of Atlas Research, and Dr. David Mayer of MedStar Institute for Quality & Safety as they reflect on the origins of the patient safety movement and look toward the future of patient safety in the U.S.

Episode 07: Anesthesiology’s Answer

Join special guests Dr. Aman Mahajan, professor and chair of anesthesiology and perioperative medicine, bioinformatics, and pharmacology and professor of bioengineering in the Swanson School of Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh and chair of UPMC Perioperative Services, and Dr. Jeffrey Cooper, professor of anesthesia at Harvard Medical School and founder of the Center for Medical Simulation, as they explore how the specialty of anesthesiology has embraced technology and a culture of safety in ways that others have not.

Episode 06: Pandemic Preparedness

Join special guests Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive vice president at the American Public Health Association, and Chris Johnson, president and co-CEO at TeleTracking, as they explore how lessons learned through the pandemic response can be applied to healthcare safety.

Up Next for Patient Safety: Ep. 05 Safety with Equity

Episode 05: Safety with Equity

Join special guests Dr. Cara James, president and CEO at Grantmakers In Health, and Dr. Kimá Joy Taylor, founder of Anka Consulting and a nonresident fellow at the Urban Institute, as they explore health equity issues within patient safety and the work that is needed to create a fair and just opportunity for every person in the U.S. to be as healthy as possible.

Up Next for Patient Safety: Factoring Humans + Machines

Episode 04: Factoring Humans + Machines

Join special guests Dr. Jonathan L. Gleason, executive vice president, chief clinical officer, and endowed James D and Mary Jo Danella chief quality officer at Jefferson Health, and Dr. Raj Ratwani, vice president of scientific affairs at the MedStar Health Research Institute, director of the MedStar Health National Center for Human Factors in Healthcare, and associate professor at the Georgetown University School of Medicine, as they explore how human factors engineering can be applied within health care to help humans and machines work better together.

Up Next for Patient Safety: Paying for Safety

Episode 03: Paying for Safety

Join special guests Jessica Brooks, MPM, president & CEO of the Pittsburgh Business Group on Health and CEO & founder of US Health Desk, and Nancy Guinto, MHA, executive director of the Washington Health Alliance, as they explore the financial incentives that impact health care at every level in the United States. If safety is going to improve, what needs to change in the healthcare economy, and what progress and solutions are available to impact safety today?

Up Next for Patient Safety: The Answer Is... Big Data

Episode 02: The Answer Is… Big Data

Join special guests Dr. David Classen, professor at the University of Utah School of Medicine, and Michael McShea, MS, MBA, group chief scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab in the Health and Human Systems group of the National Health Mission Area. Discover existing solutions in applications of autonomous safety technologies and predictive analytics that could anticipate harm and intervene to prevent harm before it occurs.

Up Next for Patient Safety: Medical Error & the NTSB

Episode 01: Medical Error & the NTSB

Join special guest host Harry Litman, the host of the Talking Feds podcast, as he interviews Robert L. Sumwalt, former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board (2017-2021), and Dr. Karen Wolk Feinstein, president and CEO of the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative, as they explore this persistent problem in health care and a new proposed solution: a National Patient Safety Board (NPSB) modeled after what has made airlines one of the safest industries in the country.


Bonus Episode: Twin Crises

Join four of our nation’s pioneer leaders in healthcare safety research and policy for a conversation on the twin crises of medical error and health worker burnout: Dr. Helen Burstin, chief executive officer at the Council of Medical Specialty Societies; Dr. Carolyn Clancy, assistant undersecretary for health for Discovery, Education & Affiliate Networks at the Department of Veterans Affairs; Nancy Foster, vice president of quality & safety policy development at the American Hospital Association; and Lisa Simpson, president and CEO of AcademyHealth.

Teaser Trailer

What can you expect from Up Next for Patient Safety? The best ideas to make healthcare safer today.


Do you provide education on patient safety, whether at the university or continuing professional education level? Our accompanying discussion guide may be a useful supplement to your materials. Exploring Patient Safety Solutions: An Educational Podcast Discussion Guide has been crafted to facilitate integration of the thirteen episodes into existing education activities to expose learners to the challenges and potential solutions around patient safety.


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If you have any comments or suggestions related to the Up Next for Patient Safety podcast series, you can submit those to us at our Contact Us page with the header, Up Next for Patient Safety Podcast.