![[Pictured (from left): Jarrod Mosier, MD, Critical Care Medicine Fellowship associate director; Steven Knoper, MD, Lung Transplant medical director; Beth Draves, RN, senior director & associate CNO for Banner hospitals in Tucson; Brenda Lambert; Josh Malo, MD; David Miller, MD, associate director, Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine and Critical Care Medicine fellowships; Sai Parthasarathy, MD, chief, Pulmonary division; Amy Napier; Jacque Carrillo; Brittany Anundson; Monique Murillo; and Hossai Shah.]](https://deptmedicine.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/dr.malos_good_catch_award_12.16.24_cdm-6467_1200x675px.jpg "Pictured (from left): Jarrod Mosier, MD, Critical Care Medicine Fellowship associate director; Steven Knoper, MD, Lung Transplant medical director; Beth Draves, RN, senior director & associate CNO for Banner hospitals in Tucson; Brenda Lambert; Josh Malo, MD; David Miller, MD, associate director, Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine and Critical Care Medicine fellowships; Sai Parthasarathy, MD, chief, Pulmonary division; Amy Napier; Jacque Carrillo; Brittany Anundson; Monique Murillo; and Hossai Shah.")
Pictured (from left): Jarrod Mosier, MD, Critical Care Medicine Fellowship associate program director; Steven Knoper, MD, Lung Transplant Program medical director; Beth Draves, RN, senior director and associate CNO for Banner hospitals in Tucson; Brenda Lambert; Josh Malo, MD, Lung Transplant Program associate medical director; David Miller, MD, associate program director, Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine and Critical Care Medicine fellowships; Sai Parthasarathy, MD, chief, Pulmonary division; Amy Napier; Jacque Carrillo; Brittany Anundson; Monique Murillo, division clinical associate director; and Hossai Shah.
The premise behind the proverb, “a stitch in time saves nine,” is that if you sort out a problem immediately, it may save a lot of extra work, stress or distress later.
![[Beth Draves, RN, senior director and associate CNO for Banner hospitals in Tucson, presents Josh Malo, MD, with his Good Catch Patient Safety Award, with Sai Parthasarathy, MD, chief, Pulmonary division chief, looking on.]](https://deptmedicine.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/dr.malos_good_catch_award_12.16.24_cdm-6472_900x600px.jpg "Beth Draves, RN, senior director and associate CNO for Banner hospitals in Tucson, presents Josh Malo, MD, with his Good Catch Patient Safety Award, with Sai Parthasarathy, MD, chief, Pulmonary division chief, looking on.")
In the case of an award presented Monday, Dec. 16, to the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine’s Joshua Malo, MD, by Beth Draves, RN, senior director and associate chief nursing officer for Banner – University Medical Center Tucson and Banner UMC South, the proverb holds greater meaning in that it also may save lives.
On the Good Catch Patient Safety Award itself, the document notes Dr. Malo “caught an error on the UNOS transplant wait list and corrected it. This resulted in a patient receiving an organ offer shortly after the correction was made.” UNOS or the United Network for Organ Sharing is a non-profit scientific and educational organization that administers the only Organ Procurement & Transplantation Network (OPTN) in the U.S.
In late summer, Dr. Malo was checking on an organ offer for another patient of the same blood type and size. He noticed the uncovered patient’s donor size was listed in centimeters, not inches, and the person hadn't received any adult lung offers during their time on the UNOS wait list.
With the correction, that was soon remedied. The patient got transplanted two days later.
“I’m happy I got the award and” even moreso that the patient was able to get a transplant, Dr. Malo said.
Dr. Malo, who joined the U of A faculty in 2013 after completing his Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Fellowship (2010-12) and serving as chief fellow (2012-13) here, is an associate professor of medicine and associate medical director of the Lung Transplant Program at Banner – University Medical Center Tucson, as well as associate program director of the DOM’s Internal Medicine Residency Program – Tucson Campus. Before his fellowship, he completed his internal medicine residency training (2006-09) in Tucson and was chief resident (2009-10) as well. In addition, he served previously as co-medical director of the BUMCT’s ECMO or Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Program (2015-17). Dr. Malo earned his medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University in the Bronx, New York, in 2006.
PACCS division chief and professor of medicine, Sairam Parthasarathy, MD, said, “Dr. Malo’s efforts led to a very positive outcome for this patient. We are grateful to him for his vigilance and astute medical expertise.”
Monique Murrillo, the division’s clinical associate director, added, “The challenge with the (UNOS) listing is that everything is either manually entered, manually re-checked, or a drop-down pick. It is still uncertain why ‘cm’ was defaulted to or selected in this case and the staff involved not only took responsibility but improved processes so this would not happen again.
“In summary, Dr. Malo made an enormous difference in helping the patient get off the waitlist and get transplanted sooner.”
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