Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1500412
11 PATIENT SAFETY & OUTCOMES "If we find and fix the problem while it didn't cause that kind of harm, we can make sure it does never get to the point where it's causing moderate to severe harm or death," Ms. Harris said. Cleveland Clinic has seen a "steady increase in the rate of reported events" over the past nine months, Leslie Jurecko, MD, the system's chief safety, quality and experience officer, said in a statement sent to Becker's. She tied the increase to the health system's high-reliability strategy and Just Culture — a "fair" system of shared accountability between organizations and employees. A strong safety culture is a daily effort Given how fast-paced the healthcare environment is, there will always be new missteps or broken systems related to patient care that require leaders' attention and response. Many leaders recognize front-line clinicians are best suited to identify and brainstorm fixes to barriers that complicate their jobs, but it's not enough to just expect them to do so. Relying on clinical teams to come forward with such challenges requires a strong organizational culture of safety, transparency and trust. To truly create and maintain such a culture, quality and safety efforts must be ingrained into the DNA of every team member, from the C-suite all the way down to front-line staff members, according to Ms. Begasse of St. Joseph's. is is a daily effort that involves keeping communication lines open with team members when something is reported or an issue arises. "We are making sure that we're looking at those and bringing those also to the very top of the organization at our patient safety meeting, and talking with our chief hospital executive and those who can help us fix problems, and then we circle back and let the team members know we fixed it," Ms. Harris said. Enabling a robust safety culture all comes back to building trust between hospital leaders, front-line team members and patients, she added. It's a two-way street: For hospital leaders to expect front-line clinicians to call attention to cumbersome workflows and patient safety issues, they must be transparent about their response efforts. "If something is not right, we will do our best to fix it. It's not enough to just know that something is wrong and [say] 'oh yeah we have this many safety events' — it's [about] how many things did we fix," Ms. Harris said. Dr. Browne stepped into his chief nurse role at St. Joseph's several months before Ms. Vaught's trial gained national attention. He's credited intentional rounding — not just rounding for the sake of rounding — for playing a key role in maintaining the system's strong culture of safety over the past year. "I know when a chief nurse rounds just for the sake of rounding versus a chief nurse who really wants to talk to the staff and understand what their practice environment is about," he said. Dr. Browne regularly rounds on day and night shis and usually greets nurses, patient care assistants and unit assistants with a simple question: Is there something you need from me that's going to help you today? e answers vary: We need more supplies. We need more staff. We need to hold admissions in the emergency department for a while. But they all share a common purpose — each interaction makes care team members feel supported and strengthens their relationship with Dr. Browne so that they feel comfortable bringing concerns to him. Ultimately, health systems' internal work to fortify safety cultures is just one piece of the puzzle. To truly create a physically and psychologically safe environment for healthcare workers, broader industry challenges must be addressed, including staffing shortages, workplace violence and burnout. "e criminalization of medical errors is not the solution that will preserve safe patient care environments," Dr. Mensik Kennedy of the ANA said. "Employers must address decadeslong workplace challenges that nurses are facing daily, such as insufficient approaches to nurse staffing that are causing many nurses to leave their positions." n American College of Physicians: Time to elevate gun safety conversations with patients By Ashleigh Hollowell A mid rapidly increasing gun violence across the U.S., the American College of Physicians issued a state- ment saying it is time for physicians to prioritize having conversations about gun violence and safety with patients. After a mass shooting took place in Nashville, Tenn., on March 27, just 10 minutes away from the office of Ryan Mire, MD, president of the ACP, he urged other healthcare professionals to join him in elevating the issue and begin- ning these conversations with patients, noting "how close we all are to becoming a victim of gun violence." The ACP's newly debuted initiative to further these conver- sations between physicians and patients includes an on- line toolkit of resources to guide physicians through these difficult conversations. The toolkit also features informa- tion about discussing firearm injuries and associated risks — something that was prompted by a call to action for the profession from Annals of Internal Medicine, which asked physicians to "pledge to speak with their patients about firearm injury when risk factors are present." "ACP has long advocated for a public health approach and common-sense measures that would help to curb this es- calating crisis," Dr. Mire said in a press release statement. "And ACP continues to address firearm injury through public policy and advocacy efforts, publication of related research and other content in Annals of Internal Medicine, events that examine the impact on clinicians and the pub- lic, and collaboration with others to enact change." n