ECRI Institute experts win safety awards

12-06-2014

Three experts at ECRI Institute, a nonprofit healthcare organization that researches the best approaches to improving patient care, were honored with patient safety awards during the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation’s (AAMI) 2014 Conference & Expo, which was held in Philadelphia, PA, May 31 to June 2, 2014.

AAMI honored ECRI Institute’s Mark Bruley, vice president, Accident and Forensic Investigation with the AAMI & Becton Dickinson's Patient Safety Award. The award recognizes outstanding achievements by healthcare professionals who have made a significant advancement toward the improvement of patient safety.

Since 1982, Bruley has been responsible for ECRI Institute’s health technology accident and forensic investigation programs, and has supervised ECRI Institute’s medical device problem reporting and hazard reporting systems since 1978.

Since starting at ECRI in 1975 he has published more than 150 technical papers and book chapters and has lectured at hundreds of domestic and international venues on many healthcare topics including medical device accident investigation, patient safety, medical device-related skin burns, surgical fires, and healthcare problem reporting programs. To learn more about the award, visit the AAMI page.

The American College of Clinical Engineering (ACCE)/The Healthcare Technology Foundation (HTF) presented Dr Bruce Hansel, executive director, Accident and Forensic Investigation, with the 2014 Marv Shepherd Patient Safety Award. Hansel is being recognized for his body of work in clinical engineering/health technology management-related forensics and patient safety since 1984.

His projects recently have included medical device incident evidence preservation, a Joint Commission e-book on Preventing Air Embolism, and the development of policies and procedures to assist healthcare facilities avoid mis-connections of IV and enteral devices. Learn more about the award on the ACCE page.

ACCE bestowed Erin Sparnon, engineering manager, Health Devices, ECRI Institute, with the 2014 Professional Achievement in Technology Award/Professional Development Award. Sparnon was chosen for her work in infusion device/electronic health record integration.

She served as principal investigator for numerous feature articles in ECRI Institute’s Health Devices Journal, including general-purpose and patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) infusion pumps. Sparnon has spoken on infusion safety technology at several national conferences. Learn more about the award on the ACCE page.

ECRI Institute, AAMI, US, Mark Bruley, Erin Sparnon, Bruce Hansel