MAIN CONFERENCE DR. Peter Pronovost SAFETY IN HEALTH CARE: INNOVATION SIMPLE TO SAVE MANY LIVES " The patients treated in Intensive Care Units (ICU) require a venous catheter to receive medication and fluids. Because of his fragile health, it is common that patients acquire infections that pose a serious risk to their health and lives.For many, these infections were inevitable and the price represented by the efforts of medical professionals to save the life of the patient. Until the doctor, Peter Pronovost, intensivist at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, showed otherwise. Pronovost is the architect of a simple method that has achieved 'delete' catheter infections in hospitals in Michigan and has prevented over 500 deaths in a thousand year and a half. The secret of his success is not a new antibiotic nor a genetic breakthrough, but something as simple as applying the recipe used in aviation to ensure a safe takeoff: check that everything is as it should. He tested his method in the intensive unit and focused on the insertion of central venous catheters, an intervention that is the third leading cause of nosocomial (hospital-acquired). The success prompted the medical community started listening.In 2003, his system was implemented in 103 ICUs from 77 hospitals in Michigan. After 18 months, the infection rate fell from 4 to 0 (down 66 ), about a thousand were prevented 500 deaths and saved 200 million (159 million). Peter Pronovost has just received a fellowship award (so-called genius grant) from the MacArthur Foundation for his outstanding contribution to the field of Patient Safety, with the use of checklists in critical care units. This technique has been collected by the World Alliance for Patient Safety in Surgical Checklist, which advocates use the CMP from the Campaign for Quality and Safety in care. Provonost, professor at the School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins, with specialization in Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, has simplified the complicated guidelines for treatment of intensive care environments, to turn them into checklists easy to use by obtaining a significant reduction in rates catheter sepsis. In order to disseminate this technique and to make policy commitments to its implementation, visit the country under the auspices of USAID. Peter Pronovost give a lecture on Wednesday 8th July 2009, at 7 pm. in the Auditorium "Daniel Alcides Carri n" Medical College of Peru (Av.July 28 block 7, Miraflores) We hope your presence will contribute to the success of the conference, Sincerely, CASTRO JULIO GOMEZ National Dean MEDICAL COLLEGE OF PERU