A Patient Point of View
Alum/Author receives international award for contributions to patient safety.
Helping patients to participate in their own care while making them aware of safety measures they can take during hospital stays is a personal and professional mission for Heon-Jae Jeong, MD, DrPH '12, MPH '08, MBA. He was inspired to take up this cause by his late father who was hospitalized for terminal lung cancer.
"I stayed in a hospital taking care of my father for several months," Jeong says, "and the time in the hospital let me think of health care organization and its management more deeply."
A Sommer Scholar who did doctoral work in the department of Health Policy and Management, the South Korea native recently received the Korean Minister of Health and Welfare Award for outstanding contributions to patient safety.
He also co-authored a new book on patient safety with another Hopkins alum-Hyeyeon Yoon, MHS '10. Published in April 2013, "Hospital User's Manual: 33 Safety Rules for Patients" covers issues embraced by the International Patient Safety Goals by Joint Commission International, including medication safety, surgical safety, patient falls and health-care-associated infections. Its evidence-based guidelines have become the foundation for the implementation of new patient safety campaigns and programs in South Korea.
"My father so valued the phrase 'Protecting Health, Saving Lives-Millions at a Time' when he saw it written on the School's brochure, he recommended I study at Johns Hopkins," Jeong says. "Because of my father's recommendation, Hopkins was the only school I applied to for the MPH program."