bers are often afraid to speak up, to talk about what they hear and
observe in ways that might help the team. Fear of litigation is of
course also a very real concern.
But anything that impedes communication is self-defeating. We
know that everyone involved in health care cares about their patients
and wants good outcomes. We need to appeal to that instinct — to
say that if there's a very high probability that something bad is going
to happen to your patients, and you can do something to prevent it,
you must do what you can.
OSM
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 • 7 5
Mr. Byrum (sbyrum@hrsconsults.com) is an expert on high-reliability organi-
zations and CEO of HRS Consulting.
