Walk and Talk Improvement

Join us with internationally renowned guest Prof Jeffrey Braithwaite for Episode 31 of the Walk and Talk Improvement Podcast, “Knowledge to action: Transforming healthcare quality”. Jeffrey is a leading health services and systems researcher.

 

In this episode, we explore:

Finding the balance between technology ("high tech") and human interaction ("high touch") in healthcare delivery.

The concept of "quality and safety clutter" and timely access to new evidence.

The importance of co-production, integration and access.

The evolution of quality improvement methodologies and the importance of tailored approaches.

The significance of coaching in enhancing healthcare practices.

 

Listen now to hear this and much more.

 

Hosted by: Juanita Guidera, National Quality and Patient Safety, Health Service Executive

Produced by: Juanita Guidera, National Quality and Patient Safety, HSE and GKMedia.ie

 

Biography

Jeffrey Braithwaite BA [UNE], DipLR, MIR [Syd], MBA [Macq], PhD [UNSW], FIML, FACHSM, FAHMS, FFPHRCP [UK], FAcSS [UK], Hon FRACMA

Professor Jeffrey Braithwaite is a leading health services and systems researcher recognised internationally for his contributions to improving healthcare systems.  He is the Founding Director of the Australia Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, and Professor of Health Systems Research at Macquarie University.

He holds visiting or adjunct appointments at Newcastle University and the University of Birmingham (UK); the University of Southern Denmark (Denmark); the University of Stavanger (Norway); and the University of New South Wales (Australia); and he is an Honorary Senior International Research Fellow at the Canon Institute for Global Studies (Japan).  He currently Chairs the International Society for Quality in Health Care’s (ISQua’s) Academy and previously served as ISQua President from 2020 to 2024.

His research focuses on healthcare culture and structure, leadership and management in health organisations, quality and safety, accreditation, and health system reform. He most recently has been researching health system sustainability and climate change. He has published extensively, with over 1,550 publications, and has delivered more than 1,610 conference presentations, including over 164 keynote addresses.

Professor Braithwaite has developed influential ideas such as boundary-less hospitals, clinician-managers as reform leaders, and culture change as a sustainable reform strategy.  His work bridges organisational studies, health services research, and clinical care.  By 2025, he had secured over $236 million in career research funding and continues to contribute widely to international research and policy discussions.

Join us for “Leading with Purpose”, Episode 30 of the Walk and Talk Improvement Podcast with special guest Martina Queally as she shares practical wisdom for driving real change. Martina is the Regional Executive Officer, Health Service Executive Dublin and South East, Ireland. 

 

In our latest episode, we explore how you can tackle health inequalities, create opportunities for meaningful transformation and the potential we all hold to make a difference.

 

Hosted by: Juanita Guidera, National Quality and Patient Safety, Health Service Executive

Produced by: Juanita Guidera, National Quality and Patient Safety, HSE and GKMedia.ie

 

Biography

Martina Queally - HSE Dublin and South East

Martina Queally commenced her role as Regional Executive Officer in HSE Dublin and South East on January 29th 2024.  HSE Dublin and South East serves the people of Carlow, Kilkenny, South Tipperary, Waterford, Wexford, East Wicklow and parts of South Dublin.

 

Martina Queally has over 30 years’ health service leadership experience with particular expertise in strategic change management in public services and integrated service delivery. Since 2015, as Chief Officer in HSE Community Healthcare East, she has led the planning and delivery of all community health services in the area (South Dublin and Wicklow), a range of national programmes, and a combined HSE and voluntary workforce of nearly 4000 staff.

 

She has led a range of change, crisis and service transformation programmes, including the Area Crisis Management Team through the COVID-19 pandemic response and vaccination programme. In 2011 as Integrated Services Area Manager for Dublin South East Wicklow she amalgamated three community health services and an acute hospital network, and in 2005 she led the establishment of the Local Health Office structure in Kildare and West Wicklow.

 

Martina trained as a Registered General Nurse before qualifying as a Midwife and Public Health Nurse.  She graduated with a M.Sc. in Heath Services Management from Trinity College Dublin in 2002. Her graduate work focused on the development of strategic, integrated approaches to health promotion within the Irish Health System. Martina has completed further study in areas of quality and service improvement and is a qualified executive coach and mentor.

Join us for “Leading with Purpose”, Episode 30 of the Walk and Talk Improvement Podcast with special guest Martina Queally as she shares practical wisdom for driving real change. Martina is the Regional Executive Officer, Health Service Executive Dublin and South East, Ireland. 

 

In our latest episode, we explore how you can tackle health inequalities, create opportunities for meaningful transformation and the potential we all hold to make a difference.

 

Hosted by: Juanita Guidera, National Quality and Patient Safety, Health Service Executive

Produced by: Juanita Guidera, National Quality and Patient Safety, HSE and GKMedia.ie

 

Biography

Martina Queally - HSE Dublin and South East

Martina Queally commenced her role as Regional Executive Officer in HSE Dublin and South East on January 29th 2024.  HSE Dublin and South East serves the people of Carlow, Kilkenny, South Tipperary, Waterford, Wexford, East Wicklow and parts of South Dublin.

 

Martina Queally has over 30 years’ health service leadership experience with particular expertise in strategic change management in public services and integrated service delivery. Since 2015, as Chief Officer in HSE Community Healthcare East, she has led the planning and delivery of all community health services in the area (South Dublin and Wicklow), a range of national programmes, and a combined HSE and voluntary workforce of nearly 4000 staff.

 

She has led a range of change, crisis and service transformation programmes, including the Area Crisis Management Team through the COVID-19 pandemic response and vaccination programme. In 2011 as Integrated Services Area Manager for Dublin South East Wicklow she amalgamated three community health services and an acute hospital network, and in 2005 she led the establishment of the Local Health Office structure in Kildare and West Wicklow.

 

Martina trained as a Registered General Nurse before qualifying as a Midwife and Public Health Nurse.  She graduated with a M.Sc. in Heath Services Management from Trinity College Dublin in 2002. Her graduate work focused on the development of strategic, integrated approaches to health promotion within the Irish Health System. Martina has completed further study in areas of quality and service improvement and is a qualified executive coach and mentor.

In this episode of the Walk and Talk Improvement Podcast, host Juanita Guidera is joined by a distinguished international guest, Dr. Anuradha Pichumani.

Dr. Anuradha is an award-winning obstetrician and gynaecologist, and Executive Director and Co-Founder of two hospitals in the Tamil Nadu region of India. She brings more than 30 years of experience in healthcare quality, patient safety, and person-centred care across public and private health systems.

This episode offers rich, practice-based insights for anyone working to improve quality and safety in healthcare, particularly in complex and resource-limited settings.

Together, Juanita and Dr. Anuradha explore:

Learning health systems in low and middle-income countries (LMICs)

Importance of family involvement in patient care

Continuous learning and improvement culture in healthcare

Adaptation of global best practices to local contexts

Strategies for staff engagement and empowerment in hospitals

Role of leadership in fostering a culture of patient safety

Use of data for actionable insights and quality improvement

Community outreach and education to influence health behaviours

Innovative approaches to patient and family engagement in care

Dr. Anuradha reflects on her three-decade journey implementing patient safety standards using implementation science and health system transformation approaches in low and middle income countries. Her stories highlight how culture, trust, and continuous learning can enable meaningful and lasting improvements in care.

Whether you are a senior leader, a quality improvement practitioner, or new to improvement science, this episode provides practical lessons and inspiration applicable across healthcare settings. 

 

Guest:
Dr. Anuradha, Award-Winning Obstetrician and Gynaecologist; Executive Director and Co-Founder of Two Hospitals, Tamil Nadu, India

Hosted by:
Juanita Guidera, Programme Manager, National Quality and Patient Safety, Health Service Executive, Ireland

 

Produced by Juanita Guidera, HSE and GKMedia.ie

 

Information about Dr. Anuradha Pichumani 

MBBS DGO FICOG FISQua Dip ART (Germany) MBA

Dr. Anuradha Pichumani is a distinguished OBGYN, Executive Director and Co-founder of two hospitals in Tamil Nādu, India (Sree Renga Hospital and Narbhavi Multispecialty Hospital Pvt. Ltd.) with extensive expertise in healthcare quality, patient safety, and person centred care.  Over the last thirty years, through her leadership and management skills, she has trained and implemented patient safety standards in public and private healthcare organisations, utilising implementation science in healthcare transformation in LMIC.

She is a Board member of ISQua, The International Society for Quality and Healthcare and ASQua, Asian Society for Quality and Healthcare, facilitating knowledge sharing and driving strategic partnerships; a member of ISQua Patient safety Task Force.

She is an Associate Faculty at Ariadne Labs (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health) and implemented Quality Collaborative projects.  She has completed  the Global Healthcare Delivery Intensive Program at Harvard T.H. Chan school of Public Health.

She is a Principal Assessor, NABH - National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare and Chair of Quality Professionals Wing of Consortium of Accredited Healthcare Organisations (CAHO), India.

She has won many awards for her commitment to healthcare quality - CAHO Quality Champion award, QIMPRO Award.  Her research publications include topics on healthcare implementation, patient safety and the impact of climate change on health in BMJ and IJQHC - International Journal for Quality in Healthcare.  She is the Lead Author of the ISQua White Paper on Patient Safety for Healthcare Organisations.

In this episode of the Walk and Talk Improvement Podcast, we partner with the Mapping Healthcare Podcast. Dr. John Fitzsimons and Dr. Ulfat Shaikh explore how patient safety approaches can be applied whilst caring for the youngest members of our communities.  They also acknowledge some of the unique features and risks in the care of newborns and children that must be addressed to make care as safe as possible. 

 

This podcast marks the theme of this year's WHO World Patient Safety Day "Safe Care for Every Newborn and Every Child". 

 

Guests:

Dr. Ulfat Shaikh is Professor of Paediatrics and Medical Director of Healthcare Quality at the University of California Davis Health. She focuses on designing, implementing, and evaluating health systems improvement methods across a broad range of health care settings to improve health care delivery and outcomes.

 

She is the Chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics' Council on Quality Improvement and Patient Safety and is on the Board of Directors of the International Society for Quality in Healthcare. Ulfat was the Associate Editor of PSNet, a national web-based patient safety resource funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and previously served as Clinical Quality Officer at the California Department of Health Care Services.

 

At the University of California Davis, she has led over 500 clinicians in quality improvement and patient safety initiatives across departments. She was named an American Board of Pediatrics Paul V. Miles Fellow in recognition of her contributions to improving the quality of healthcare for children.

 

Ulfat has been a practicing paediatrician for 25 years and holds a Doctor of Medicine, master’s in public health, a master’s in clinical research, and is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

 

 

Dr. John Fitzsimons is a Consultant Paediatrician with a special interest in allergy at Children’s Health Ireland, Temple Street in Dublin where he is an RCSI Honorary Clinical Associate Professor. He also works with HSE National Quality & Patient Safety (NQPS) as Clinical Director for Quality Improvement (QI) and with the RCPI on QI and Patient Safety Education. He is course director of the HSE funded RCPI Post-Graduate certificate in Quality Improvement Leadership in Healthcare which has over 800 graduates and coached more than 250 improvement projects.

 

John has contributed to national improvement projects including Irish Paediatric Early Warning System (PEWS), Situation Awareness for Everyone (SAFE), the HSE Patient Safety Strategy (2019-2024) and most recently the HSE’s Quality & Patient Safety Competency Navigator (2025). He is a visiting Research Fellow with the Centre for Innovative Human Systems (Human Factors) at Trinity College Dublin. He is an editor of the Oxford Handbook of Patient Safety (2022) and a contributor to the Oxford Handbook of Quality Improvement (2024) and has several peer reviewed publications in the field. He is a regular host and contributor to QI and Patient safety webinars and podcasts in Ireland.

 

 

Hosted by: Dr. John Fitzsimons, Consultant Paediatrician, Children’s Health Ireland

Produced by: Juanita Guidera, National Quality and Patient Safety, Health Service Executive, Ireland and GKMedia.ie

 

About Mapping Healthcare

Mapping Healthcare is a radio show and podcast where a medic with a map explores ways in which people around the globe make the world of healthcare better and what we can learn from them. The host is a paediatrician, educator, and researcher who leads programs to help people access high-quality healthcare and stay healthy. All past episodes are archived below. Find Mapping Healthcare on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.