David W. Bates MD, MSc, has been serving as Senior Vice President for Quality and Safety and Chief Quality Officer for both BWH and the Brigham and Women’s Physicians Organisation since July 2011. A graduate of Stanford University (BS Chem) and the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, he began his fellowship in general internal medicine at BWH in 1988. Bates received an MSc in Health Policy and Management from the Harvard School of Public Health in 1990.

Dr. Bates is an internationally renowned expert in patient safety, using information technology to improve clinical decision-making, quality of care, cost-effectiveness, and outcomes assessment in medical practice.

A practicing general internist, Dr. Bates is also chief of General Internal Medicine at BWH and directs the hospital's Center for Patient Safety Research and Practice. He is concurrently a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a professor of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health, where he co-directs the Programme in Clinical Effectiveness.

At a time when patient safety has become a key driver for focusing national attention on healthcare quality, Bates’ work has not only shown the magnitude of the problem, he has also provided a blueprint for helping solve it. One study he led demonstrated that implementation of computerised physician order entry reduced the rate of serious medication errors by 55 percent. In addition, he has performed many studies on how computerised, evidence-based guidelines can improve quality and efficiency.
 
Dr. Bates is the president of the International Society for Quality in Healthcare (ISQua). He has been elected to the Institute of Medicine, the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians and the American College of Medical Informatics, and was chairman of the Board of the American Medical Informatics Association.

Bates serves as the principal investigator of the Health Information Technology CERT and as editor of the Journal of Patient Safety. He has over 600 peer-reviewed publications, and an H-index of over 80.

Dr. Bates has received a number of awards including a National Research Service Award; the Henry Christian Award for Excellence in Research; the Culpeper Award; the Partners in Excellence Award Quality Treatment and Service and Leadership and Innovation; and the Cheers Award for Outstanding Contribution to Medication Error Prevention from the Institute for Safe Medication Practices.

Source and image credit: Brigham and Women’s Hospital

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patient safety, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Zoom On IT David W. Bates MD, MSc, has been serving as Senior Vice President for Quality and Safety and Chief Quality Officer for both BWH and the Brigham and Women�...