National Patient Safety Expert Ilene Corina Launches Public Speaking Tour

WANTAGH, N.Y., August 9, 2017 (Newswire.com) - Ilene Corina, founder and President of Pulse Center for Patient Safety Education & Advocacy (Pulse CPSEA) is set to embark on a series of speaking engagements for community and healthcare organizations and conferences.

"I already deliver community education programs as an introduction to patient safety and advocacy," says Corina, "and I teach at Hofstra University's Continuing Education program in Family-Centered Patient Advocacy. Now, I want to spread the message to a wider audience: patients and their families (as well as professional patient advocates) can help keep themselves and their loved ones safe from harm while receiving medical treatment. It's just a matter of training and education."

Patients and their families (as well as professional patient advocates) can help keep themselves and their loved ones safe from harm while receiving medical treatment. It's just a matter of training and education.

Ilene Corina, President, PULSE Center for Patient Safety Education & Advocacy

Medical errors are the third-leading cause of death in the United States according to two recent studies, and they cost the economy $17 billion a year. While healthcare organizations and research universities are funded to do more research and to train medical staff, some of the most effective prevention comes from well-informed patients who are engaged in their own care program, and from their families and friends.

Corina knows from personal experience what it feels like to be vulnerable and to experience a breakdown in communication. She lost her son more than 25 years ago when he kept bleeding following a tonsillectomy, and she was sent home from four different emergency rooms and told, "Don’t worry." "No one learned from this experience," she says, and she wants to ensure that other patients are listened to when they use "assertive but respectful communication."

With practically no funding, Corina started and built Pulse CPSEA into what it is today: one of the few grassroots patient safety nonprofits in the country focusing exclusively on the role of those receiving medical care, not those delivering it. Pulse offers community workshops and training courses, as well as free bedside support and advocacy services.

Patients — and often their families — are eyewitnesses to adverse medical events and errors, and their feedback is extremely valuable in learning what should be improved; yet their input is often overlooked. Corina believes no one has more at stake than the patient and family, and leaving them out of patient safety is a poor idea that must be changed. She travels to hospitals and to health conferences teaching the importance of patient and family participation, and to schools to talk about medication safety, stressing that young people can avoid addiction to pain medications if they are aware of the risks beforehand.

Corina has won many awards for her advocacy work and sits on prestigious boards such as The National Patient Safety Foundation and The Joint Commission. She recently traveled to Saudi Arabia to address the first international conference on patient safety to be held in the Middle East.

To arrange for Ilene speak to your organization or event, please contact her at:

icorina@pulsecenterforpatientsafety.org
516-579-4711
www.icorina.com

Source: Pulse Center for Patient Safety Education & Advocacy