Dennis Quaid, Actor
Widely acclaimed as one of the most charismatic actors of our time, Dennis Quaid is also an advocate for reducing medical errors. In his keynote address to ASHP, Quaid will tell how he and his wife, Kimberly, became motivated to launch The Quaid Foundation, an organization whose mission is to help minimize the impact of human error in patient medical care.
An actor with literally dozens of leading Hollywood roles on his resumé, Quaid has a spellbinding, personal story to share about the nearly fatal medical errors his own infant twins survived in November of 2007. While hospitalized for infections at three days of age, the Quaid newborns received 1,000 times the pediatric dose of heparin not just once but twice within an 8-hour period.
With insight into how such potentially catastrophic errors evolve, Quaid doesn’t blame the healthcare workers. “Individually, nurses, doctors, and pharmacists are good people,” he says, “but they’re hamstrung by working in a broken system.”
Resolving to respond constructively to their sobering experience, the Quaids are committed to using their influence to improve systems such as barcode medication administration and drug labeling that help prevent errors. In this cause, Dennis Quaid has appeared on 60 Minutes, testified before congress, endorsed legislation that sets standards for pharmacy technician licensure requirements in California, and spoken at numerous national medical meetings.
As hospital pharmacists, we welcome Dennis Quaid’s efforts. His keynote address at our Midyear Clinical Meeting will be a memorable, must-see event.
You can read more about The Quaid Foundation and their efforts to help reduce medication effors on their website at www.thequaidfoundation.org.