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Leadership Engagement Toolkit: Board Engagement in Patient Safety

Defense Health Agency - E&T

April 22, 2017 | 6:13

For the Military Health System to function as a high reliability organization, there are expectations of its leaders. These expectations include a relentless commitment to patient safety, zero tolerance of preventable harm, and development of a shared culture of safety throughout the organization. Commanders and leaders set the tone for a culture of safety for both patients and staff, and commit to improvement, with a goal of zero harm.

In order to achieve this, the Military Health System adopted high reliability organization guiding principles and assembled a set of evidence-based strategies called the Leadership Engagement Toolkit. These have been successfully used in health care settings across the nation.

One strategy that will help leaders in your organization foster a safety culture is Board Engagement in Patient Safety. This is the practice of establishing a standing Board-level committee on patient safety and quality improvement, with goals, metrics, and regular reviews with military treatment facility executives.

We encourage you to consider how you can use this practice at your facility to engage the Board in patient safety, moving it one
step closer toward the goal of becoming a high reliability organization.