Kathleen Dohey, MSN, RN, is a patient safety advisor with the Patient Safety Authority, serving the southwestern region of Pennsylvania.
Dohey graduated from the West Penn Hospital School of Nursing in 1989 and began her professional nursing career at Westmoreland Hospital in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Carlow College (now Carlow University) and her master’s degree in nursing administration from Waynesburg University in 2017.
Throughout her career at Independence Health System (formerly Excela Health), she held several leadership roles in nursing, risk management, quality, and infection prevention and control. Most recently, she served as the chief quality officer for Independence Health System. She oversaw and managed the quality and safety of patient care and services within the health system and was responsible for organizational regulatory compliance for its Westmoreland County sites.
As chief quality officer, Dohey focused on the development and implementation of policies and procedures aimed at minimizing the risk of harm to patients. She also provided oversight and direction for the analysis of data related to clinical quality and patient safety. Serving as a champion for clinical excellence initiatives, she collaborated with healthcare professionals across various departments to identify potential safety issues, analyze incidents, and promote a culture of safety within the organization.
Shirley Dominick is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh where she double majored in political science and French. She is multilingual, speaking French, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese. After her initial bachelor’s, she worked as an international flight attendant serving as a language interpreter on international flights. She later changed gears and completed her diploma of nursing from Reading Hospital School of Health Sciences. Dominick worked at the bedside with oncology medical-surgical patients and earned her certification in med-surg nursing. After obtaining her first position out of school, she continued her education, receiving her Bachelor of Science in nursing from Rider University. As a clinical nurse at Reading Hospital, Dominick was involved in many activities, including the Medication Safety Committee, where her love of patient safety blossomed. She joined the hospital’s Patient Safety Department as a patient safety process manager, where she worked closely with all departments providing education about safety and reporting. She completed a master’s degree in patient safety and quality at Southern New Hampshire University. Prior to coming to the PSA, Dominick served as the patient safety officer at Reading Hospital, working to promote safety and facilitate the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) safety assessment. She implemented many of its recommendations, including creating a system policy for Just Culture, ensuring that all meetings started with a safety story, and creating a safety dashboard to keep board members up to date on safety concerns. She additionally has obtained her certification in patient safety (CPPS). Advocating for patients has always been a passion of hers and in her role as a patient safety advisor, she will continue to share her knowledge and passion with institutions she will work with. She has many years of experience with interdisciplinary collaboration, presentations, and providing education on a variety of topics.
Rick Kundravi has been with the Patient Safety Authority (PSA) since 2009 as the patient safety advisor for the Northwest Region of Pennsylvania. In this role Kundravi is responsible for assisting the 68 licensed healthcare facilities in his region to reduce and eliminate medical errors. He has assisted in several projects in his current role. These projects included the Hospital Improvement and Innovation Network (HIIN) Reducing Injuries from Falls and Immobility Project; The Online Education on the Value, Importance and Obligation of Patient Safety in Pennsylvania Project; and the Patient Safety Officer's Event Reporting Toolkit Project. He also served as the facilitator and team leader of the statewide Behavioral Health Falls Prevention Workgroup, and has published two articles for the PSA’s Patient Safety Advisory; "Meeting the Challenges Associated with the Morbidly Obese Patient" and "Disclosure: Understanding the Barriers to Communicating Unanticipated Outcomes." He attained his certification as a Certified Professional in Patient Safety (CPPS) and is a certified TeamSTEPPS Master Trainer. Prior to coming to PSA, Kundravi served as the director of Risk Management and Patient Safety at UPMC McKeesport as well as the facility’s corporate compliance officer, privacy officer, director of Peer Review, regulatory compliance officer and patient representative. In his role as patient safety officer, Kundravi conducted educational sessions on failure mode and effects analysis, common cause analysis, root cause analysis (RCA), and Just Culture, and served as chairman of the facility’s Patient Safety and Patient Experience committees. Kundravi was also the facilitator of the Patient Safety Staff Education team that received a Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.
Melanie Motts joined the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority (PSA) in 2015 as a patient safety advisor. She interacts with patient safety officers (and other various healthcare staff) in healthcare facilities across the eastern region of Pennsylvania in an effort to decrease patient harm. Previous to joining PSA, she worked in outpatient and inpatient settings as a manager, educator, and Registered Nurse. Most recently Motts was the director of nursing and patient safety officer for an acute care hospital in the Lehigh Valley. In that position, she led a team of nursing staff, case managers, laboratory staff, and clerical support earning the CMS 5-star rating for quality of care provided and patient satisfaction.
She is from the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, and is a graduate of St. Luke's University Hospital School of Nursing where she received the Nursing Leadership Award. Motts also received her Bachelor and Master of Education degrees in kinesiology/exercise physiology from Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, and a Bachelor in nursing from Chamberlain College of Nursing. She is a Certified Professional in patient safety.
Molly Quesenberry is a regional patient safety advisor with the Patient Safety Authority (PSA), serving the north-central region of Pennsylvania. Quesenberry graduated from The Pennsylvania State University in 1993 with a degree in nursing. She started her professional career in a gynecologic oncology unit at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. She later returned to her hometown in rural Pennsylvania and worked for two local hospitals, now part of the Penn Highlands Healthcare system, in labor and delivery as well as maternal newborn care. She was employed by Allegheny General Hospital as a staff nurse in hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis. She was then appointed as the director of nursing for an outpatient dialysis center, Renal Care Partners LLC. She worked as a perioperative nurse at the Penn Highlands Elk Surgery Center and served as the patient safety officer for her facility. More recently, Quesenberry was employed by Penn Highlands Healthcare in the Quality and Safety department and Penn Highlands Physician Network as the director of Quality and Regulatory Programs. In her time at the surgery center as the patient safety officer, Quesenberry led a team effort in conducting a performance improvement project to decrease the risk of a wrong-site surgery. In 2020, she, the surgery center staff, two surgeons, and their office staff received the PSA’s I AM Patient Safety Achievement Award for their work. As a patient safety advisor, Quesenberry will collaborate with patient safety officers and other healthcare professionals to advocate for patients by improving and promoting patient safety, and support staff in their efforts to accomplish these goals.
Catherine Reynolds is a patient safety advisor with the Patient Safety Authority (PSA) for the Southeast region of Pennsylvania. Reynolds is an accomplished healthcare and patient safety professional, specializing in the analysis of adverse events and facility-wide implementation of patient safety plans and is a core team lead of the Center of Excellence for Improving Diagnosis. With over 25 years of experience in healthcare, she has a strong clinical background in critical care and emergency specialties in large academic medical centers and brings this broad patient safety perspective to the Southeast region. Reynolds has served as a registered nurse, quality improvement coordinator, patient safety manager, and patient safety officer in Philadelphia area hospitals. Reynolds received Bachelor of Science in nursing from The Pennsylvania State University and a Master of Jurisprudence in Health Law and Doctor of Laws from Widener University School of Law. She is a Certified Professional in Patient Safety (CPPS) and an alumna of the Pennsylvania Rural Urban Leadership Program. She has been published in both the Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety and the PSA’s peer-reviewed journal Patient Safety.
Megan Shetterly is a graduate of Wilkes College, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, where she received a Bachelor of Science in nursing, a Bachelor of Arts in psychology, and a Master of Science in nursing with a focus in education. She has been with the Patient Safety Authority (PSA) in the capacity of a patient safety advisor since August 2008, working with various Pennsylvania healthcare facilities to reduce medical errors. She has given multiple educational presentations and written journal articles on various patient safety–related topics. She has facilitated collaboration efforts with healthcare facilities in order to improve patient safety with projects focused on blood specimen labeling and preoperative screening. She is a Certified Professional in Patient Safety (CPPS), is certified in Just Culture Training, and is a TeamSTEPPS master trainer. Previously, Shetterly worked at a Community Health Systems hospital in Berwick, Pennsylvania, assuming various roles and responsibilities including occupational health nurse; director of Performance Improvement; director of Education; director of Infection Control; director of Case Management; risk manager; patient safety officer; director of various inpatient and outpatient units (Oncology, Cardiac Treatment Clinic, Sleep Center, Respiratory Therapy, Pain Clinic); and Women’s Health director, as well as clinical responsibilities as a registered nurse in delivery of patient care. |