Presenter: Dr. Katherine A. Pohlman DC, MS, PhD, Director of Research/Professor at Parker University
Time: 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Format: 100 person capacity (classroom-style workshop)

Description: The Hippocratic Oath – “First, Do No Harm” – is the heart of patient safety. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines patient safety as: “A framework of organized activities that creates cultures, processes, procedures, behaviors, technologies and environments in health care that consistently and sustainably lower risks, reduce the occurrence of avoidable harm, make errors less likely and reduce the impact of harm when it does occur.” In addition, WHO has outlined the Global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021-2030, which contains seven strategic objectives and action items designed to promote co-operation between health care stakeholders. These strategic objectives and action items can be adapted and customized to specific health care environments, including our chiropractic profession.

During this workshop, we will walk through WHO’s Global Patient Safety Action Plan and identify what the chiropractic profession is already doing (that needs to be documented) and steps that could be taken to establish a more robust patient safety culture. We will discuss what data has been collected and what is needed, as well as the cultural changes necessary to shift our profession to the forefront of the patient safety movement. Together, we can become the model patient safety health care profession.

Presenter bio: Dr. Katherine Pohlman, D.C., M.S. Ph.D. is director of research and professor at Parker University. She is currently the vice chair of the World Federation of Chiropractic (WFC) – Research Council, Chair of the WFC’s Global Patient Safety Task Force, vice chair of the Research Workgroup for Chiropractic Future, and a senior fellow of the Chiropractic Academy of Research and Leadership (CARL) program. She received Researcher of the Year award in 2020 from the American Chiropractic Association (ACA), was the 2023 World Congress of Women Chiropractors’ Leadership awardee, and has served as the vice president of the ACA’s Council on Women’s Health and the ACA’s Council on Chiropractic Pediatrics. Dr. Pohlman received her Doctor of Chiropractic (D.C.) degree and M.S. in Clinical Research from Palmer College of Chiropractic, and her Ph.D. in pediatrics from the University of Alberta. She is an expert in study methodology, as well as in patient safety and effectiveness of chiropractic care in special populations, including children, adolescences, pregnant/postpartum individuals, and overall women’s health.