the principles of highly
reliable delivery of
care, says Lorri
Gibbons, RN, MS, vice
president of quality
and safety for the
South Carolina
Hospital Association.
"When you become
more reliable, you
decrease the risks of
errors and the harm
they can cause," she
adds. In other words, you don't necessarily stop mistakes from hap-
pening, but you prevent the potentially harmful ramifications from
reaching the patient.
Leaders at surgical facilities need to look at how theirs can become
the safest possible entities. "You're not going to do it all at once, and
just because you have a high rate of safety in one area doesn't mean
you can stop trying to improve," says Ms. Gibbons. "You have to build
a foundation based on the principles of becoming highly reliable, and
grow your safety program incrementally. Staff will begin to think about
surgical safety differently before their behaviors change. When that
happens, you'll see drastic improvements occur."
Dr. Berry says improving the safety of surgical care is more
marathon than sprint. "We need to recognize that it's going to take a
while to get to where we want to go," he says.
In the short term, say over the next 12 months, he suggests you
focus on making the time around the use of checklists and time outs
as meaningful and as reliable as possible. "When those points in care
J a n u a r y 2 0 1 7 • O U T PA T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T • 1 2 9
• MAKING A MARK Checklists are useful safety tools only if they're used reliably and
meaningfully.
