Halina Kutaj-Wąsikowska

Polish Association for Spiritual Care in Medicine

Graduate from the Jagiellonian University and from the School of Public Health, Jagiellonian University Medical College. Fellowship in Quality Improvement at Harvard School of Public Health as part of the Polish-American Quality Network. Lecturer and faculty at patient safety and quality of care education and training: International Summer Practicum on Patent Safety (training for trainers) led by the Council of Europe and the European Society for Quality in Health Care. Between 2003 and 2010 Council Member of the European Society for Quality in Healthcare (ESQH), 2006-2017 Polish representative at Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in the field of quality indicators. Advisor at the National Center for Quality Assessment (NCQA) since 1994; appointed as CEO of NCQA between 2017 and 2022.

Partner in the EU funded research project MARQUIS (Methods of Assessing Response to Quality Improvement Strategies), DUQUE (Deepening our understanding of quality improvement in Europe), Handover and the National Contact Point for Poland in European Union Network for Patient Safety and Quality of Care (PaSQ). Recently, Council Member of the COST CA19113 (The European Researchers' Network Working on Second Victims –The ERNSTGroup).

Co-author of the Polish Accreditation Programs for hospital care, primary care; addiction centers and pathology centers. 1996-2022 supervised NCQA cooperation with the Joint Commission International, WHO i Polish scientific medical societies and associations. WHO patient safety expert; introduced WHO patient safety tools into the Polish healthcare system.

Leading auditor in over 400 accreditation surveys.

Course and training director of courses for accreditation surveyors, hospitals, pathology centers with themes in patient safety, healthcare quality, quality indicators, monitoring and learning from adverse events in healthcare.

Author and co-author of many scientific publications dedicated to quality and safety.