BACKGROUND: Disparate health care provider attitudes about autonomy, teamwork, and administrative operations have added to the complexity of health care delivery and are a central factor in medicine's unacceptably high rate of errors. Other industries have improved their reliability by applying innovative concepts to interpersonal relationships and administrative hierarchical structures (Chandler 1962). In the last 10 years the science of patient safety has become more sophisticated, with practical concepts identified and tested to improve the safety and reliability of care. OBJECTIVE: Three initiatives stand out as worthy regarding interpersonal relationships and the application of provider concerns to shape operational change: The development and implementation of Fair and Just Culture principles, the broad use of Teamwork Training and Communication, and tools like WalkRounds that promote the alignment of leadership and frontline provider perspectives through effective use of adverse event data and provider comments. METHODS: Fair and Just Culture, Teamwork Training, and WalkRounds are described, and implementation examples provided. The argument is made that they must be systematically and consistently implemented in an integrated fashion. CONCLUSIONS: There are excellent examples of institutions applying Just Culture principles, Teamwork Training, and Leadership WalkRounds--but to date, they have not been comprehensively instituted in health care organizations in a cohesive and interdependent manner. To achieve reliability, organizations need to begin thinking about the relationship between these efforts and linking them conceptually.
BACKGROUND: Disparate health care provider attitudes about autonomy, teamwork, and administrative operations have added to the complexity of health care delivery and are a central factor in medicine's unacceptably high rate of errors. Other industries have improved their reliability by applying innovative concepts to interpersonal relationships and administrative hierarchical structures (Chandler 1962). In the last 10 years the science of patient safety has become more sophisticated, with practical concepts identified and tested to improve the safety and reliability of care. OBJECTIVE: Three initiatives stand out as worthy regarding interpersonal relationships and the application of provider concerns to shape operational change: The development and implementation of Fair and Just Culture principles, the broad use of Teamwork Training and Communication, and tools like WalkRounds that promote the alignment of leadership and frontline provider perspectives through effective use of adverse event data and provider comments. METHODS: Fair and Just Culture, Teamwork Training, and WalkRounds are described, and implementation examples provided. The argument is made that they must be systematically and consistently implemented in an integrated fashion. CONCLUSIONS: There are excellent examples of institutions applying Just Culture principles, Teamwork Training, and Leadership WalkRounds--but to date, they have not been comprehensively instituted in health care organizations in a cohesive and interdependent manner. To achieve reliability, organizations need to begin thinking about the relationship between these efforts and linking them conceptually.
Authors: Geoffrey K Lighthall; Juliana Barr; Steven K Howard; Eran Gellar; Yasser Sowb; Edward Bertacini; David Gaba Journal: Crit Care Med Date: 2003-10 Impact factor: 7.598
Authors: Liane R Ginsburg; You-Ta Chuang; Whitney Blair Berta; Peter G Norton; Peggy Ng; Deborah Tregunno; Julia Richardson Journal: Health Serv Res Date: 2010-03-10 Impact factor: 3.402
Authors: James M Hoffman; Nicholas J Keeling; Christopher B Forrest; Heather L Tubbs-Cooley; Erin Moore; Emily Oehler; Stephanie Wilson; Elisabeth Schainker; Kathleen E Walsh Journal: Pediatrics Date: 2019-02 Impact factor: 7.124