Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety adds Premier, Inc. safety expert Pugliese to Advisory Board

CHICAGO, May 22, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety (PPAHS) announced today that Gina Pugliese, RN, vice president of the Premier, Inc. Safety Institute, has joined the PPAHS Board of Advisors.

"On behalf of PPAHS, I am tremendously excited to welcome Gina Pugliese to our Board of Advisors" said PPAHS Executive Director Michael Wong, JD. "As one of the leading patient safety experts in healthcare, Gina will provide invaluable knowledge and guidance as PPAHS continues in our mission to improve the health and safety of patients everywhere."

Recently named to Becker Hospital Review's list of "50 Experts Leading the Field of Patient Safety – 2014," Ms. Pugliese is an associate faculty member of Rush University College of Nursing and a member of the adjunct faculty of the University of Illinois at School of Public Health, Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, in Chicago.

In addition, Ms. Pugliese is the senior associate editor of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology and served for 16 years as co-chair of the international Healthcare Epidemiology Training Program co-sponsored by the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She has served on a number of national committees for the CDC, The Joint Commission, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the National Quality Forum (NQF).

"Ms. Pugliese's expertise in patient safety is unequaled, and by joining our Board of Advisors, Gina will make what is already a consummate group of patient safety experts all the more knowledgeable," Mr. Wong said.

Before joining Premier, Ms. Pugliese was the Director of Safety of the American Hospital Association. For more than 25 years, she has served in clinical, teaching and administrative positions in nursing, hospital administration, safety, and infection control. She is the author of more than 140 publications and has developed and/or served as faculty in more than 400 national and international educational conferences in 14 countries and 25 national videotapes and teleconferences.

"I am thrilled to join the PPAHS Board of Advisors. They are a group of passionate individuals who share my lifelong commitment and dedication to improving the health and safety of tens of thousands of patients," Ms. Pugliese said.

About Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety

Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety is an advocacy group whose mission is to promote safer clinical practices and standards for patients through collaboration among healthcare experts, professionals, scientific researchers, and others, in order to improve health care delivery. For more information, please visit www.ppahs.org 

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SOURCE Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety