Quaid endorses health safety practices

WASHINGTON, April 13 (UPI) -- Actor Dennis Quaid, a patient-safety advocate since his twins nearly died, is urging the adoption of 34 practices aimed at reducing medical errors.

The safety practices are part of a manual produced by the National Quality Forum, an organization with the mission of improving the quality of healthcare.

The practices are organized into seven categories, including medication management, preventing infections during treatment and creating a culture of informed consent and disclosure.

Quaid and his wife created The Quaid Foundation to raise public awareness about medical errors after their newborn twins nearly died as a result of an accidental Heparin overdose in 2007 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

The actor and Dr. Charles Denham -- co-chairman of the NQF Safe Practices Program and chairman of the Texas Medical Institute of Technology -- recently co-authored an article for the Journal of Patient Safety.

Quaid's made-for-television documentary "Chasing Zero: Winning the War on Healthcare Harm," is scheduled to be released at the Global Patient Safety Summit in Nice, France, April 22. Quaid is scheduled to be the keynote speaker.

The documentary is the first in series of patient safety films slated to air on the Discovery Channel.