Patient Safety Leadership Walkarounds
We are pleased to announce the introduction of a new initiative in Spring 2009 which demonstrates our commitment to building a culture of patient safety. On a regular basis, NHS senior leaders will be visiting all sites conducting Patient Safety Leadership Walkarounds. Leadership Walkarounds in clinical areas have been recognized as an excellent way to connect senior leaders with people working on the front line – both as a way to educate senior leadership about safety issues and to demonstrate the organization’s commitment to creating a culture of safety. It also creates opportunities for improving safety and establishes lines of communication about patient safety among employees, physicians, managers and executives. Leadership Walkarounds assist by ensuring that a systematic process is in place for the identification, prioritization and implementation of solutions to patient safety issues of concern that have been identified by frontline staff and healthcare providers. Only by openly discussing the issues and collaboratively implementing solutions will we improve patient safety.
Leadership Walkarounds are conducted in patient care departments at a pre-determined time and location. All staff and physicians working in the area are welcome to participate in the discussion. The process is an informal one and focuses on patient safety-related topics. Discussions are documented only for purposes of identifying trends across the system. We are interested in focusing on the systems and not individuals, therefore, no names or patient identifiers are documented.
The overall goal will be to resolve the issues discussed before the next scheduled Walkaround and if an immediate solution is available, a member of the team will follow up. In the event that an immediate solution is not available, these items will also be documented and reported for further discussion. Risk Management/Patient Safety program will review, analyse and follow up on each Leadership Walkaround to ensure no items are missed.
Principles of a Fair and Just Culture
To demonstrate the senior leadership’s commitment to a culture of patient safety and to promote dialogue during the Leadership Walkarounds, the Board of Trustees has endorsed Principles of a Fair and Just Culture. The intent of the principles is to promote an atmosphere where any employee or physician can openly discuss errors, process improvements or system corrections without the fear of reprisal. This means giving constructive feedback and critical analysis in skillful ways, doing assessments that are based on facts, and having respect for the complexity of the situation. In order to have the greatest impact and achieve the highest level of excellence, staff must be able to speak up about problems, errors, conflicts and misunderstandings in an environment where it is a shared goal to identify and discuss problems with curiosity and respect at every level of the organization.
We know we have work to do in the area of improving our culture regarding patient safety. By implementing Leadership Walkarounds, we believe that together we will successfully increase awareness of patient safety across the organization.