October 15, 2019 —
Mark Bruley, ECRI Institute’s vice president for accident and forensic investigation and a member Kendal Outreach’s Board of Directors, has received the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) & Becton Dickinson’s 2014 Patient Safety Award. The award recognizes outstanding achievements by healthcare professionals who have made a significant advancement toward the improvement of patient safety. It was handed out at the AAMI 2014 Conference & Expo, which was held May 31- June 2 in Philadelphia.
Bruley is known as a leading expert on surgical fires. His vast experience includes supervising ECRI’s medical device problem reporting and hazard reporting systems, serving on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Hospital Bed Safety Workgroup, and sitting on the Institute of Medicine’s Committee on Post market Surveillance of Pediatric Medical Devices.
“I have worked with Mark for more than four decades and witnessed firsthand his progress from a young biomedical engineer to the world’s foremost authority on medical device-related patient and hospital staff injuries and deaths,” said Joel J. Nobel, MD, founder and president emeritus at ECRI.
“He has investigated more medical device accidents than anyone in the industry [and] has trained healthcare professionals all over the world,” added Jim Keller, vice president of health technology evaluation and safety at ECRI.
Jeffrey Feldman, MD, division chief with the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, also praised Bruley, calling him “a talented engineer and a unique individual” who has used his knowledge to help patients.
“I am honored to receive the AAMI & Becton Dickinson Patient Safety Award,” Bruley said in accepting the award. “It is a tribute to the patient safety benefits derived over the past four decades from my work and that of others at ECRI Institute. That work included investigation of thousands of medical technology accident investigations, presentation of continuing education courses on medical device safety, and publication of related articles.
“Of particular benefit has been my work in developing recommendations for prevention of surgical fires and collaborating with professional medical societies on this topic. Also of note from my career was the development of training materials for the FDA MedSun Medical Device Surveillance Network to educate administrative, risk management, and clinical personnel in the recognition, investigation, and prevention of medical device adverse events.”
AAMI is a nonprofit organization founded in 1967. It is a diverse community of nearly 7,000 health care technology professionals united by one important mission—supporting the healthcare community in the development, management, and use of safe and effective medical technology.