5th Australasian Conference on
Safety and Quality in Health Care

August 6–8, 2007
Brisbane Convention Centre

Keynote Speaker

Professor Dianne Parker

Dianne Parker took a first class honours degree in psychology in 1987 and was awarded a psychology PhD in 1992. A member of faculty in the University of Manchester's Department of Psychology since 1994, she was awarded a personal Chair in Applied Social Psychology in 2004. Much of her research has been carried out in the domain of human error and safety, with two particular areas of emphasis: the psychology of rule-related behaviour in a range of settings from driving to medicine, and the application of theoretical models of attitudes and behaviour to the understanding and improvement of safety behaviour.

Experience working with a range of high-risk industries on behavioural safety has guided her approach to patient safety. Recent healthcare projects have considered the attitudes of healthcare professionals to clinical guidelines and Integrated Care Pathways as ways of describing best practice, and facilitating standardisation of care delivery; a multi-method study of error in community pharmacy; and an investigation of the safety implications of electronic prescribing. Together with colleagues in the University of Manchester’s National Primary Care Research and Development Centre she developed the Manchester Patient Safety Framework, a qualitative tool that allows self-assessment of safety culture in healthcare organisations. The national patient safety Agency endorses MaPSaF and recommends its use in all healthcare organisations in England. A version of the tool for international use is currently in development, funded by the World Health Organisation. In April 2004 she took up a 12-month secondment to the UK Department of Health to work with the Deputy Chief Medical Officer on developing a strategy for patient safety.