Nationally Recognized Patient Safety Expert Joins Tampa General Hospital
Published: Feb 7, 2022
Dr. Elham Yousef will be the new vice president of Medical Affairs at the leading academic medical center on the West Coast of Florida.
Tampa, FL (Feb. 07, 2022) – Tampa General Hospital (TGH) is pleased to welcome Elham A. Yousef, MD, MBA, MSC, SFHM, FACP, to the hospital’s leadership team as vice president of Medical Affairs.
Yousef is a nationally recognized expert in patient safety and quality improvement, particularly in the areas of improving diagnostic accuracy and building high reliability organizations. She comes to Tampa General from Case Western Reserve University, where she has been an assistant professor of Medicine. She worked at Cleveland Clinic Foundation for many years before joining University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland as the vice chair of medical operation and strategy, quality and patient safety, and medical education in Family and Community Health.
“We are delighted to bring Dr. Yousef to Tampa General to build on our commitment to patient safety,” said Dr. Peggy Duggan, executive vice president and chief medical officer at Tampa General. “At Tampa General Hospital, patient safety is at the core of all that we do and the cornerstone of our vision to be the safest and most innovative academic health system in the country. Dr. Yousef will help us further our commitment to operating each day as a high-reliability organization that safely delivers world-class care to our patients.”
At Tampa General, Yousef will work directly with the medical staff and clinical teams to improve quality and efficiency as the hospital continues to implement and elevate high-reliability strategies across the clinical organization. In medicine, clinicians in high-reliability organizations are always alert to the possibility of failure and working to prevent them; they develop systems that protect against human errors and regard safety as a core value that cannot be compromised.
In Ohio, Yousef has focused on maximizing value and improving quality while reducing cost, implementing the pillars of high reliability into the center’s daily clinical work, and seeking innovation in care coordination for multidisciplinary medical teams. She holds prominent chair and co-chair appointments as well as serving on multiple national committees with the American College of Physicians, Society of Hospital Medicine and Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine to further diagnostic safety. She worked on a committee for the Society to Improve Medicine that presented the “Road Map for Research to Improve Diagnosis” to Congress in 2018.
“Our goal is Zero Harm,” Yousef said of her work to improve diagnostic safety. “We ensure timely and accurate diagnosis by working in collaboration with patients and families to engage them early in the diagnostic process, and to make sure that decisions are made in collaboration with them to deliver truly personalized and patient-centered care.”
Yousef earned her medical degree from the Assiut University Faculty of Medicine in Assiut, Egypt. She is board certified in Internal Medicine and earned her MBA at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.
Yousef also holds several certifications in process improvement, communication and coaching, and mentoring physicians in professional development. She is a practicing physician, treating patients as a specialist in adult hospital medicine and perioperative consultation.
ABOUT TAMPA GENERAL HOSPITAL
Tampa General Hospital, a 1,041-bed non-profit academic medical center, is one of the largest hospitals in America and delivers world-class care as the region’s only center for Level l trauma and comprehensive burn care. Tampa General Hospital is the highest-ranked hospital in the market in U.S. News & World Report's 2021-22 Best Hospitals, and one of the top 4 hospitals in Florida, with five specialties ranking among the best programs in the United States. The academic medical center’s commitment to growing and developing its team members is recognized by two prestigious 2021 Forbes magazine rankings – America’s Best Employers by State, third out of 100 Florida companies and first among health care and social organizations and 13th nationally in America’s Best Employers for Women. Tampa General is the safety net hospital for the region, caring for everyone regardless of their ability to pay, and in fiscal 2020 provided a net community benefit worth more than $182.5 million in the form of health care for underinsured patients, community education and financial support to community health organizations in Tampa Bay. It is one of the nation’s busiest adult solid organ transplant centers and is the primary teaching hospital for the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. With five medical helicopters, Tampa General Hospital transports critically injured or ill patients from 23 surrounding counties to receive the advanced care they need. Tampa General houses a nationally accredited comprehensive stroke center and its 32-bed Neuroscience Intensive Care Unit is the largest on the West Coast of Florida. It also is home to the Jennifer Leigh Muma 82-bed Level IV neonatal intensive care unit, and a nationally accredited rehabilitation center. Tampa General Hospital’s footprint includes 17 Tampa General Medical Group Primary Care offices, TGH Family Care Center Kennedy, TGH Brandon Healthplex, TGH Virtual Health and 19 outpatient Radiology Centers. Tampa Bay residents also receive world-class care from the TGH Urgent Care powered by Fast Track network of clinics, and they can even receive home visits in select areas through TGH Urgent Care at Home, powered by Fast Track. As one of the largest hospitals in the country, Tampa General Hospital is first in Florida to partner with GE Healthcare and open a clinical command center that uses artificial intelligence and predictive analytics to improve and better coordinate patient care at a lower cost. For more information, go to www.tgh.org.