Chuck Mowll: Rehoboth resident hopes to save lives

A Rehoboth resident and longtime healthcare executive published a book he hopes will save countless lives. 

Chuck Mowll retired as an executive vice president of the Joint Commission in 2015. During 20 years with the commission, a healthcare facility accrediting board, Mowll said he saw the best and worst in healthcare.

“More than 13,000 adverse events were reported since records began to be kept in 1985,” he said. “I reviewed most of them to see the root cause of events and what kinds of errors are occuring. Patients were being severely injured as a result of error or system failure, and most of them were preventable.”

Mowll said his book, “Five Disciplines for Zero Patient Harm,” was published by the Health Administration Press to teach healthcare executives, nurses, doctors, university professors and medical students safe practice methods.

“Every nurse wants to practice safely,” Mowll said. “Changing behavior is critically important. By changing unsafe behaviors to safe behaviors, and then changing safe behaviors to safe habits, the behaviors are not just done today and forgotten.”

Mowll said the book also focuses on what people should know when they or their loved ones are in the hospital. “A lot of the book is helpful to patients,” he said. “Patients and families need to be an active part of the care team and ask questions.”

Mowll was an active part of his wife’s care. In January, his wife Darlene passed away at Beebe Healthcare, 10 days after being diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic liver cancer. “I was impressed with Beebe because the nurses on the front line of care practiced safe habits every time,” Mowll said. “I am now on Beebe's quality and safety committee and working on the inside to keep patients safe.”

“Five Disciplines for Zero Patient Harm” is available through Amazon and American College of Healthcare Executives at www.ache.org.

“I’m hoping it will save some lives and that it will be well-read,” Mowll said.