At the Quality Institute, we’ve started 2026 with clear priorities and focus. Earlier this week, we gathered members in South Jersey for a regional member meet-up. Thank you to The Cooperative for hosting us in their welcoming community room in Camden. Catching up with health care leaders in South Jersey who talked about their commitment to quality, as well as their innovative approaches, highlights the focus we all share on health care quality. To me, it was the right way to begin a new year.

In another event this morning, we brought together more than 150 members and partners for a virtual gathering to recognize the Quality and Safety teams in New Jersey hospitals.  The event was for support as well as continued learning. The focus was on the risks of dismissing patient, family, and caregiver concerns.

We heard from Shannon Kooker, MSN, RN of ECRI, who outlined why the dismissal of patient, family, and caregiver concerns is the number one safety concern in ECRI’s report, “Top 10 Patient Safety Concerns 2025.”

Participants also heard from Quality Institute Vice President of Quality, Adelisa Perez-Hudgins, MSN, RN, and Lydia Weber, DNP, VP, Chief Patient Safety Officer & HRO, Hackensack Meridian Health.  Our presenters shared actions organizations can take to prevent harm from dismissing a patient’s gut feeling, a caregiver’s observation, or a family member’s repeated worry.

To make these lessons available more widely, information from the session is accessible in the Quality Institute’s newest quality brief, When Patients Speak, which outlines evidence-based practices for elevating concerns into actionable safety signals. The quality brief contains practical tools and quick-win actions your organization can implement immediately. From adjusting handoff templates to piloting escalation cards, there are achievable steps that can make a significant difference for patients.

We invite you to check out the quality brief, attend one of our upcoming learning sessions, or networking events.