YNHHS marks Patient Safety Awareness Week March 13-19

Patient safety is a priority every day, for everyone.

But during national Patient Safety Awareness Week (PSAW) March 13 - 19 YNHHS sets aside time to remind all of us about our patient safety efforts and commitment to sustaining high reliability. Throughout the week, the health system has been highlighting different topics that help promote a culture of safety.  

One topic is YNHHS’ 2022 Safety Culture Survey. We should all be proud of the strengths identified in the survey, particularly with harm prevention and event reporting. However, the survey indicates that we need to continue working to improve and sustain our safety culture. YNHHS has implemented several interventions to help sustain our strengths and address the opportunities for improvement:

• Revitalize the Safety Coach Program and align it throughout the health system with ongoing recruitment, education and simulation training.
• Engage frontline staff in discussions about Safety Culture Survey results for their units/departments. 
• Standardize and optimize safety event reporting, particularly in “closing the loop” on follow-up.
• Continue hospital and safety leaders’ HRO Rounding to Influence with frontline staff. 
• Share the CHAMP safety behavior of the month across the health system.
• Integrate wellness and resilience strategies into weekly Resiliency in Safety Events (RISE) reports.
• Align the Great Catch program across the health system.

Safety starts with each of us; and every individual in the organization is responsible for patient safety. Promoting safety can also be as basic as reminding a colleague to wash their hands or asking a question about a consent form during a time out/sign in. The high reliability organization (HRO) CHAMP behaviors are things we do every day, but now is a good time to re-establish your commitment to HRO.

So take time during Patient Safety Awareness Week to reflect on how you can promote safety in your area and bring YNHHS closer to being an organization free from harm.