• Huron Companies
    • Innosight
    • Studer Education
  • Subscribe to Huron Insights
  • Submit RFP
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Favorites
  • Expertise
    • Business Operations
    • Care Transformation
    • Consumer Transformation
    • Digital, Technology & Analytics
    • Organizational Transformation
    • Research Enterprise
    • Strategy & Innovation
    • Upcoming Huron Events

      View Events
  • Industry
    • Education
    • Energy & Utilities
    • Financial Services
    • Healthcare
    • Industrials & Manufacturing
    • Life Sciences
    • Public Sector
    • See All
    • Simplify the stimulus benefits process

      Find Your Funding
  • Our Experts
    • View All Expert Bios
    • Find an expert specialized in your industry

      Book a Speaker
  • Insights
    • Articles
    • Case Studies
    • Research
    • View All Insights
    • Get the latest insights and updates from our experts

      Stay Connected
  • Expertise
    Expertise
    Business OperationsCare TransformationConsumer TransformationDigital, Technology & AnalyticsOrganizational TransformationResearch EnterpriseStrategy & Innovation

    Upcoming Huron Events

    View Events
  • Industry
    Industry
    EducationEnergy & UtilitiesFinancial ServicesHealthcareIndustrials & ManufacturingLife SciencesPublic SectorSee All

    Simplify the stimulus benefits process

    Find Your Funding
  • Our Experts
    Our Experts
    View All Expert Bios

    Find an expert specialized in your industry

    Book a Speaker
  • Insights
    Insights
    ArticlesCase StudiesResearchView All Insights

    Get the latest insights and updates from our experts

    Stay Connected
  • Careers
    Careers
    Join Our Talent CommunitySearch Open PositionsBenefits
  • About Huron
    About Huron
    The Huron DifferenceOur People & ValuesMaking an ImpactOur ResultsInvestor RelationsLocations
  • Help & Support
    Help & Support
    Contact UsSubmit an RFPBook a Speaker
  • Privacy
    Privacy
    Privacy StatementTerms & ConditionsCookies PolicyFraudulent OffersLabor Condition Applications
  • Favorites
    Recent Favorites
    You have no saved content.

Maintaining A Culture of Safety During Transformation

Favorite Bookmark

Craig Deao, Vikki Choate

Download Email Subscribe Print

Healthcare leaders are juggling an ever-growing list of priorities, all deemed most important: managing costs, growing revenue, streamlining operations, recruiting qualified talent and many others. However, as the Hippocratic oath declares, a physician’s first duty is to do no harm; in the business of keeping people healthy, there can be no priority more important than safety.

Though maintaining a high level of safety is a continuous challenge, it is even harder to maintain during times of transformation. Mergers, acquisitions, consolidations and partnerships bring structural and operational adjustments. New leadership disrupts the chain of command, making it unclear who is accountable for what. In the midst of such change, much can fall through the cracks or end up on the back burner. But healthcare leaders cannot afford to sacrifice safety in lieu of other obligations. To preserve and maintain a culture of safety during transformation, healthcare organizations must have in place the right people, processes and technology.

The People

In 1987, the aluminum company Alcoa began an incredible journey. Paul O’Neill, chief executive officer, decided that instead of measuring success in terms of revenue, expenses, earnings and other financial metrics, the company would measure success in terms of employee safety. For more than a decade, Alcoa’s dedication to safety decreased the company’s worker injury rate to one-twentieth the national average, making the company one of the nation’s safest places to work. In that same time, Alcoa experienced significant financial growth; annual net income quintupled, and its market capitalization increased to $27 billion. Alcoa achieved an unheard-of return on investment (ROI) by transforming the company’s culture.

Alcoa’s story has significant implications for the healthcare industry: A recent study concluded that 1 in 10 patients experience a safety event while receiving medical care, half of which are preventable. Additionally, at least 12% of preventable errors result in permanent disability or death. Healthcare leaders have a moral responsibility to establish robust cultures of safety within their organizations, not only for patients but also for employees. Much emphasis has been placed on developing leaders who can create well-functioning teams and increase productivity, but healthcare organizations also need leaders who champion safety — those who can uphold accountability and display an unwavering commitment to zero harm. Healthcare organizations can empower their employees to maintain a high level of safety, even in a constantly changing environment, by:

  • Deferring to expertise. Front-line employees have extensive knowledge and skills that make them the experts of their realm. These employees must be able to react quickly in any situation; save valuable time by decentralizing decision making and enabling your teams to solve problems on their own.
  • Developing a preoccupation with failure. Highly reliable organizations have a healthy obsession with what could go wrong and seek to fix problems before they happen. Establish daily executive-led leadership safety huddles where all department heads discuss the safety events of the previous 24 hours, as well as review what is happening in the next 24 hours that could pose a safety risk.
  • Staying connected. Regularly round with employees as the organization moves through change. Explain the reasons for the changes and what they mean, both for the organization as a whole as well as individuals. Address any safety concerns staff members report, and intentionally communicate the organization’s complete commitment to zero harm regardless of the changes.
  • Preserving a transparent and supportive culture. It is critical that employees are enabled to report safety events without fear of retribution. Create an environment that focuses on finding the root causes of safety events and developing solutions — not on placing blame.

The Processes

Alcoa’s success came not only from transforming the organization’s culture but also from scrutinizing how the organization operated. The company uncovered a number of processes that jeopardized workers’ safety and were inefficient for working with aluminum. It was the change in these processes that enabled the company’s high financial growth.

Likewise, healthcare organizations must take a critical look at their operations and processes to identify inefficiencies that could lead to preventable safety events. To do so means the organization will need to look at all processes, not just the ones that directly touch the patient.

For example, many patient safety issues can stem from poor information technology practices, improper disposal of hazardous materials and incomplete patient records. In the thick of transformation, many factors can put patients in danger. Healthcare leaders can reduce these risks by:

  • Being reluctant to simplify. Processes shouldn’t be overly complicated, but leaders must be resolute in their commitment not to take shortcuts, even when things are busy. Sophisticated processes not only produce predictable and repeatable outcomes but also make it harder for people to do the wrong thing.
  • Asking for input from employees. Based on where they sit along the process’s trajectory, employees offer a different perspective that will be useful in identifying existing problems in the current process as well as potential problems in proposed changes.
  • Making transparency nonnegotiable. It is everyone’s responsibility to properly document or record important patient details and other health information that informs the actions of nurses, anesthesiologists and other physicians down the road.
  • Committing to resilience. Refuse to be paralyzed by harm events. Proactively audit processes for efficiency and effectiveness. Investigate what caused the breakdown in process and how it can be improved. Make the appropriate changes and then communicate those changes across the organization.

The Technology

Technology is a powerful tool for patient safety. It can be used to reduce any number of errors, from the minor to the catastrophic, and uncover the root causes of safety issues to resolve them permanently.

However, technology’s most significant benefit to consumers is in enabling us to do meaningful work. By offloading nonclinical tasks, healthcare professionals can spend more time caring for patients. That extra time with patients could mean the difference between a satisfactory patient experience and an exceptional one — not to mention life and death.

Healthcare leaders can breathe life into their growth strategies by:

  • Working in real time. Explore machine-learning tools that identify and measure safety risks as they happen. This allows caregivers to be both reactive and proactive in protecting their patients, either by intervening as quickly as possible during a safety event or by giving the provider enough time to step in before an error happens.
  • Utilizing historical data and analytics. By understanding what has caused problems in the past, healthcare organizations can prevent them in the future.
  • Collaborating with your experts. Work with the organization’s information technology experts to audit current capabilities. Identify areas where digital and other technologies can aid in mitigating safety risks.

When healthcare organizations focus on safety, it provides the foundation for high reliability and clinical, operational and financial success. With the right people, processes and technology in place, healthcare organizations can maintain a culture of safety through any transformation, maximizing outcomes for patients while minimizing life threatening risk.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

To maintain a culture of safety during transformation, healthcare leaders must:

Think differently.

Redefine success in terms of patient safety and set the bar at zero harm.

Plan differently.

Collaborate with employees to create processes that both mitigate and eliminate safety risks.

Act differently.

Invest in technology that makes it easier to maintain a culture of safety by providing both real-time and historical data.

Written by Craig Deao, MHA and Vikki Choate, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, CCM, CPHQ

Favorite Bookmark
JS Inject Download Email Subscribe Print
Organizational Transformation Digital Technology and Analytics Healthcare Article

Maintaining A Culture of Safety During Transformation

  • Craig Deao

    Craig Deao

    Managing Director

    Contact This Expert Read My Bio
  • Person

    Vikki Choate

    Coach

    Contact This Expert Read My Bio

Related Work

  • Achieving Zero Harm with High Reliability Organizations

    Read More

    The journey to zero harm in healthcare begins with understanding the characteristics and culture that make high reliability organizations successful.

  • Elevating Change Management: From Point Solution to Continuous Transformation

    Read More

    Leaders must shift organizational perceptions of change from an episodic solution to an ongoing strategy that becomes part of the organization's DNA.

View All

Subscribe

Receive the latest insights and news from Huron’s transformation experts.

We use cookies on our website to provide you with a more personalized digital experience, enable website functionality and understand the performance of our site. You may review our Privacy Statement and our Cookies Policy. By using this site you agree to our use of cookies. I Accept

  • Expertise
    • Business Operations
    • Care Transformation
    • Consumer Transformation
    • Digital, Technology & Analytics
    • Organizational Transformation
    • Research Enterprise
    • Strategy & Innovation
  • Industry
    • Education
    • Energy & Utilities
    • Financial Services
    • Healthcare
    • Industrials & Manufacturing
    • Life Sciences
    • Public Sector
  • About Huron
    • The Huron Difference
    • Our People & Values
    • Making an Impact
    • Our Results
    • Investor Relations
    • Locations
  • Help & Support
    • Contact Us
    • Submit an RFP
  • Careers
    • Search Open Positions
    • Join Our Talent Community
    • Benefits
  • Legal
    • Privacy Statement
    • Terms & Conditions
    • Cookies
    • Fraudulent Offers
    • Labor Condition Applications
  • Instagram

© 2021 Huron Consulting Group Inc. and affiliates. Huron is a global consultancy and not a CPA firm, and does not provide attest services, audits, or other engagements in accordance with standards established by the AICPA or auditing standards promulgated by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (“PCAOB”). Huron is not a law firm; it does not offer, and is not authorized to provide, legal advice or counseling in any jurisdiction. Huron is the trading name of Pope Woodhead & Associates Ltd.