Becoming Safer Together

The Journey Ahead

The Reason Why

We’ve learned a lot in the last two years about how to be safer together. Yet we can be safer still. Here’s the reason why:

There are certain industries where the expectation is zero preventable harm, and healthcare is one of them. Like the airlines, people trust us with their lives. That’s an honor and responsibility we must hold ourselves accountable to every day.

At the same time, we must also make CentraCare safer for all of us. Safer in every way for every employee — physically, mentally and emotionally.

How We Will Become Safer

Our safety aim will be:

To work together to ensure our patients, their families, and all of us at CentraCare feel safe and are safe.

We will transform our organization by applying the rigor and discipline of a High Reliability Organization (HRO). Becoming an HRO will require new practices together and a greater attention to safety in everything we do.

In their 2006 article, Design of high reliability organizations in health care, authors J S Carroll and J W Rudolph state the aim of HROs as “highly predictable and effective operations in the face of hazards that can harm hundreds or thousands of people…” They go on to characterize HROs as having a culture that includes safety awareness by employees at all levels and, “a willingness to shift decision making to knowledgeable experts including frontline employees who know the immediate situation and need to respond promptly…”

There is more to understand about becoming a High Reliability Organization in healthcare. Fortunately, other systems have already adopted HRO methods and much is known about best practices. While we will adopt the best practices of our peers, this journey will rely on frontline feedback and a relentless pursuit of one common goal: Zero preventable harm among our patients, their families, our visitors, and each other.

What We Will Do Next

While there are established practices among healthcare systems that will become part of our path to a safer CentraCare and a High Reliability Organization, there is a wealth of information in every individual, every team and every unit within CentraCare.

Our first task is to mine our own knowledge for what will make us safer together — and then create a set of common practices. In the meantime, we will also begin training leaders to develop new skills that will enhance our ability to become a High Reliability Organization. Later in the year, we expect to have a common set of Safer Together Skills for everyone to learn.