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Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Taking over as the new Director of Patient Safety

Well, regular readers already know that I was given the new responsibility of becoming the "Director of Patient Safety" at my hospital. The previous incumbent for this post is my Sudanese friend Dr. Amr Hilal, and he is relinquishing this post because he is leaving the Kingdom in a few months' time. 

A few weeks ago, I was informed by our hospital's medical director Dr. Shehabeldin that he had recommended my name to the hospital director for the twin posts of "Director, Total Quality Management (T. Q. M.)" and "Director, Patient Safety (P. S.)", but I expressed dismay as I was already busy with my services as a Pediatrician, and secondly, I would be at sea in the Kingdom as my knowledge of Arabic, both written and oral, is hardly appropriate to read or make documents that form the core of these two directorships. Later, he had a discussion with other responsible persons, and decided to hand over only the Patient Safety directorship to me, and has nominated a Syrian surgeon, Dr. Tarek, for the other directorship.

I was told clearly that the additional responsibility would earn me no extra income; that it would perhaps help enhance my C.V. but give me no material benefits. Later, I was also told that I would get a room to myself to discharge my duties as director, P. S. I have mixed feelings about this post, as, even though it WILL add to my C.V., it will also create a lot of extra work and stress for me, something that I am not too willing to incur at the present time of my life. 

Dr. Amr and I have had two sessions so far, where he has begun to explain the duties and responsibilities of this job, and one of the senior nurses of our hospital, sister Maria Ana Li is also part of our team as she is the nursing coordinator for the departments of P. S. and T. Q. M. A lot of ground is yet to be covered, but I expect to be fully briefed within the next week or so. 

Insofar as my level of commitment to this extra responsibility is concerned, currently, it is hovering near 50% ... but I hope to get into the groove as time passes. I have no choice, as the department will face an annual inspection by the Ministry of Health's CBAHI (Central Board for Accreditation of Healthcare Institutions) division.

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