Boonshoft School of Medicine graduate receives Young Physicians Patient Safety Award

Wright State Boonshoft School of Medicine graduate Charles N. Spear will begin a pediatrics residency at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City this summer.

Charles N. Spear, M.D., a 2015 Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine graduate, was one of six medical students and residents nationwide who received the 2015 Young Physicians Patient Safety Award for their essays detailing personal insights into the significance of patient safety work.

Spear and the other winners were recognized at the annual Association of American Medical College’s Integrating Quality meeting and received $5,000 each from The Doctors Company Foundation, which cosponsors the annual contest with the Lucian Leape Institute.

In addition to Spear, winners included medical students from Georgetown University School of Medicine and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons among other medical schools.

The Doctors Company Foundation was created in 2008 by The Doctors Company, the nation’s largest physician-owned medical malpractice insurer. The foundation supports patient safety education for health care professionals, patient safety research with clinically useful applications and medical professional liability research. The essays can be read on The Doctors Company Foundation at tdcfoundation.com.

Spear values patient safety.

“When patients come to the hospital and receive our care, they are at a vulnerable point in their lives. They think that whatever medical decisions we make are the correct ones,” said Spear, who is from Highland Heights, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. “However, as we all know, doctors make mistakes, too. But it is important to learn from these mistakes and make sure that we come up with a solution that does not compromise patient safety further along down the road.”

Spear will begin a pediatrics residency at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City this summer.