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Letter to Hydraulic Fluid Facts Web site visitors, November 2006

A message welcoming site visitors to hydraulicfluidfacts.dukehealth.org from Dr. Michael Cuffe, vice president for medical affairs at Duke University Health System.

Dear site visitors,

Nearly two years have passed since surgical instruments were inadvertently exposed to hydraulic fluid at two of our community hospitals. Our commitment to our patients and their health remains our top priority, and we are continuing extensive efforts to improve our care delivery, culture, and awareness of patient concerns. Our interest has always been the safety and welfare of our patients and we deeply regret the occurrence of this incident.

We’ve continued to make patient safety a top priority for each and every one of us who work at Duke. This focus has continued to help Duke put into place safety and quality systems that improve the care of our patients, encourage every employee to speak up with any concerns they may have about patient safety, and make sure that their concerns are heard. We also now have a well established Patient Advocacy Board to help us be sure we’re listening closely to our patients across the Health System.

If any patient has a concern about a question related to exposure, we want to reiterate that the hotline continues to be available and, as has been the case over the past two years, we encourage them to call (919-286-3232, extension 223) to speak to our experts in toxicology or to make an appointment to be seen at our clinic.

Our intent through all these efforts is to continually improve the delivery of high-quality, patient focused care that our patients expect of us. We must acknowledge that we cannot change the past, but together, we can indeed make a better future.

Sincerely,

Michael Cuffe, MD
Vice President for Medical Affairs
Duke University Health System

November 2006