59H - High Reliability as an Operating Model for Safety, Quality, Leadership and Engagement

Tuesday, March 21

3:15–4:15 p.m.

High reliability practices are a known way of achieving zero harm and are gradually being adopted by healthcare organizations. The benefits of high reliability with regard to safety and quality are well known. However, healthcare is facing other significant problems, including employee engagement, staffing, physician and employee morale, costs and financial stress. Something that may be overlooked is that the principles of high reliability apply not only to quality and safety but also to other significant issues in healthcare organizations. As an example, the principle of “preoccupation with failure” can readily be applied by leadership to ensure robust employee engagement, even in trying times. “Sensitivity to operations” can be applied to high reliability care redesign, ensuring safety and cutting costs by eliminating care delays, extraneous tests and procedures. This session will illustrate how the principles of high reliability can be used as an operating system model to address major issues in healthcare organizations.

Learning Objectives

• Apply the principles of high reliability to processes that ensure employee engagement, reliable staffing, organizational spirit and morale, care redesign and cost reduction.
• Teach practical principles of high reliability to other staff to carry the methodology throughout the organization.