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Make Today a Safe Day
Protecting patients from harm really is as simple as changing the culture.
Safety
Kathy Fisher, MSEd, BSN, RN, CNOR
Kathy
Fisher,
MSEd,
BSN,
RN,
CNOR
L
et's make it a safe day, LBJ! That's what the charge nurse
here at Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital in Houston announces to
the entire perioperative team at the end of every morning hud-
dle. I can't help but smile each time I hear it, because those 7 words
are more than just a catchy phrase. They represent a hospital-wide
culture change and serve as a daily reminder to focus on safety proto-
cols that improve staff collaboration and eliminate preventable errors.
Nowadays, our team is on the same page when the huddle breaks, but
we didn't always see eye to eye.
Nurses and techs used to believe surgeons acted like know-it-all dic-
tators. Surgeons, meanwhile, thought nurses were bossy and the sur-
