Retired Best Buy CEO and Former Swiss Health Minister Headline Mayo Clinic Quality and Systems Engineering Conference

Monday, May 14, 2012

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Brad Anderson, retired CEO of Best Buy, and Thomas Zeltner, M.D., former Swiss Secretary of State for Health, will keynote the Mayo Clinic Quality and Systems Engineering Conference on May 14–16, at Mayo Civic Center, Rochester, Minn.

Anderson, who started at Best Buy as a commissioned salesperson and rose to the company's highest position, will discuss how staff at all levels can lead. Dr. Zeltner, an expert in international health reform and patient safety, will address quality improvement and health equity.

Participants choose from four tracks — systems engineering, quality, hot topics and the needs of the patient — to customize their conference experience. Sessions include:

• La Crosse Area Collaborative to Improve End-of-Life Care
• Global Bridges: An international collaborative to decrease tobacco use
• Diffusing ideas from high-performing practices across the country
• Provider-specific performance measurement
• Bedside patient rescue

This year's conference offers participants an opportunity to hear directly from patients about their experiences with the health care delivery system. More than 20 patients will share both positive and negative stories about seeking care for themselves or a family member. For example, Jill Keach will share the story of her fifth-grade daughter's diagnosis of leukemia and subsequent treatments at Mayo Clinic. Attendees will interact with Keach and other patients via roundtable discussion, first identifying key lessons from the patient's story and then brainstorming potential solutions to any unresolved problems.

Original research also will be presented during oral abstract and poster sessions. Featured research includes:

• Educating future physicians to change medical culture
• Fall prevention within a cardiovascular care unit
• Increasing activation of a sepsis response team within an ICU
• Redesign of ambulatory care

Please contact Shelly Plutowski at 507-248-5005 or newsbureau@mayo.edu if you are interested in attending portions of the conference.

###

About Mayo Clinic

Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit worldwide leader in medical care, research and education for people from all walks of life. For more information, visit MayoClinic.com or MayoClinic.org/news.

Journalists can become a member of the Mayo Clinic News Network for the latest health, science and research news and access to video, audio, text and graphic elements that can be downloaded or embedded.