Executive POV: High Reliability Needs More Than a Culture Change — It Needs Scaffolding
By: Nicholas Testa, MD | Chief Clinical Officer, Sentact I want to start with a definition, because I think it matters more than most people realize. When I talk with healthcare leaders about improving their organizations, I always come back to one fundamental question: what is healthcare, exactly? To improve something, you first must define…
Protecting Healthcare Worker’s Health & Wellbeing
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on health systems, and particularly on the health and wellbeing of healthcare workers on the frontlines of pandemic response efforts. (1) However, it’s not just during a pandemic that organizations need to focus on their employee’s health and wellbeing. Healthcare workers have historically faced high levels of burnout and…
7 Reasons for Healthcare Leaders to Focus on Patient Experience
Prioritizing patient experience is vital for enhancing outcomes and offers multifaceted benefits for healthcare institutions. This strategic focus not only improves patient care but also bolsters operational efficiency. Explore the seven key reasons why healthcare leaders must prioritize patient experience for transformative impact. 1. Improved Patient Outcomes At the core of every healthcare organization lies the central…
9 Tips for Performing an Effective Root Cause Analysis in Healthcare
Root cause analysis in healthcare is a systematic approach to identifying the underlying causes of problems, medical errors, or adverse events. This strategy is widely utilized to understand what happened, why it happened, and how to prevent it from happening again. As a crucial tool for quality improvement in healthcare, it helps to address gaps in…
How Safety Culture Translates to Better Patient Outcomes
One misstep. One missed detail. In healthcare, that’s all it takes to turn a routine procedure into a life-threatening crisis. But behind every safe patient discharge, every prevented error, and every confident caregiver is something less visible, but just as critical: a strong safety culture. It’s the invisible force that drives better communication, faster response…
Medication Errors: Why We Must Look Beyond the “Five Rights”
Medication errors are a widespread concern in healthcare, and they can have severe consequences for patients. The five rights of medication administration – right patient, right drug, right dose, right rout, and right time –have long been used as a framework for preventing medication errors. However, relying solely on the five rights is not enough…
Near Miss Reporting Software in Healthcare: A Critical Safety Tool
Near miss reporting software has become an indispensable tool in healthcare, where the complexity of modern medicine makes errors and near misses almost inevitable. What sets high-performing hospitals, clinics, and other types of organizations apart is how they respond to these events—especially the ones that almost happened. By capturing potential hazards before they escalate into adverse events, near miss…
Prevent Medication Errors with Healthcare Technology
To prevent medication errors is crucial in the evolving landscape of healthcare, as new innovations and technology may unintentionally elevate risks to both patients and staff. As a leading cause of preventable harm and injury in healthcare organizations, medication errors present severe threats to patient safety. Read on to learn how to implement safe medication practices…
The State of Trust in Healthcare: Insights 5 Years Post-COVID
Five years after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic, the reverberations continue to impact our perceptions of health institutions and trust in various societal actors. A recent Edelman Trust Barometer update sheds light on the state of trust in healthcare in the United States, the United Kingdom, Brazil, and India. The Erosion of Trust in…
Tackling the Challenge of Hand Hygiene and Infection Control
The Center for Disease Control estimates that on any given day, 1 in 31 hospital patients has an HAI or healthcare-associated infection.1 Up to 70 percent of these infections could be prevented if health care workers followed recommended protocols, including hand hygiene and infection control. 2 Although many HAIs are preventable, their high prevalence leads to harmful effects on patients’ physical, mental,…