Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists Foundation and Dr. Peter Pronovost to collaborate

"At the 31st Annual Meeting of the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists, the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists Foundation and Peter Pronovost, M.D., PhD, Director of the Quality and Safety Research Group at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, formally announced that they have entered into a collaborative endeavor to reduce human error in the setting of cardiovascular anesthesia and surgery. The FOCUS project (Flawless Operative Cardiovascular Unified Systems), a multi-year, multi-center initiative, will examine the physical and cultural environment of the cardiac surgery operating rooms, and will seek to define processes by which the cardiovascular operative teams can reduce the occurrence of human error. The research will be based on the cockpit (or crew) resource management (CRM) model, implemented worldwide by the commercial aviation industry. The CRM model is based on the concepts that 'although individuals may make mistakes, it is possible for teams to be flawless' (John Nance), and embraces a culture in which everyone involved in servicing, preparing, or flying an aircraft is granted responsibility for that aircraft's safety" - GEN