On acquiring a socially transmitted discovery (STD) in Berlin--and Paris, and Prague.

The improvement of healthcare quality and patient safety is at its heart a social act. I am particularly aware of this each year when I attend the International Forum on Quality and Safety in Health Care. In March 2009 in Berlin, I spent one of the most pleasurable evenings I can remember in a restaurant with colleagues from the UK, Sweden, Spain, Australia, Netherlands, Italy and the USA—a group with whom I meet annually at the International Forum. We enjoyed a similar evening in Paris last year, and in Prague the year before that. I am inevitably the beneficiary of the learning that comes from such a diverse and expert international group. As I reflect on these gatherings, I am reminded that I am the beneficiary of many Socially Transmitted Discoveries (STDs) that are highlights of the annual Forum.