Practical Application of High-Reliability Principles in Healthcare to Optimize Quality and Safety Outcomes.

Application of high-reliability (HR) principles into daily healthcare processes can drive culture change, safety, and quality outcomes. Understanding foundational practices to full HR principle integration in an organization's quality and safety programs strengthens evidence-based practices, reduces clinical variation, and improves nurse-sensitive patient outcomes. Quantifying the cost impact of reduction in preventable harm and improved nurse-sensitive patient outcomes is an initial attempt to formulate an empiric measure of nursing value.