Shared Voices: A Framework for Patient and Employee Safety in Healthcare

In Shared Voices, author and entrepreneur Heidi Raines shows how to systematically ensure the safety of patients and staff at healthcare facilities. Most medical errors occur because of flawed systems, not reckless practitioners, and systems can learn from errors. A just culture of care that protects everyone is possible through a framework of near-miss and incident reporting, equitable follow-up, analysis, and learning. Heidi, the founder and CEO of Performance Health Partners, has dedicated her career to designing solutions for healthcare organizations in need of knowledge and technology to deliver safe, equitable, and quality care. In this book, she argues that the way to foster more safety in healthcare facilities is to create organizational structures centered around reporting incidents and near-misses, then use systems thinking to resolve and prevent issues. And the best path to do this is to give voices to all healthcare workers by encouraging them to speak out and report observations about their work. Active staff engagement not only keeps patients and employees safe, but it also combats burnout and turnover. As points of care grow and training levels vary, it is paramount for healthcare leaders to establish a framework that sets caregivers up for success at every level and in every type of healthcare organization. Modernization may seem labored at first, but its longer-term results—including overall reduction in serious safety events, and the saving of lives—are ultimately the drivers of innovation. Shared Voices is Heidi Raines’ latest contribution to the world of healthcare patient and employee safety. She holds a Preceptor Faculty position at Tulane University’s Master of Health Administration program and serves as Board President of the American College of Healthcare Executives Women’s Healthcare Executive Network. Raines has received awards for innovation and executive leadership and was named one of the Top 100 Influential Entrepreneurs in Technology.

Table of Contents:
Introduction PART I Just Culture in Healthcare Care Volume and Complexity in the Absence of Effective Systemization What is a Just Culture in Healthcare? Steps toward Achieving a Just Culture of Care The Next Leap Forward Evolution of the Patient Safety Movement Twenty-First-Century Efforts to Improve Patient Safety and Quality of Care Aviation as Model Meaningful Reporting Encouraging Near-Miss Reporting Anonymous Reporting Learning from Reporting Our Pathway to Prevention PART II Establishing a Patient Safety Committee Seven Steps to Establishing a Patient Safety Committee Building Organizational Trust Building an Effective Reporting System Key Characteristics of an Effective Incident Reporting System Selecting a Reporting Software: Start with the End Result in Mind Fundamental Features of Reporting Software Building Electronic Event Reporting Forms Organizational Accountability Post Event Follow-Up What Happens after an Event is Submitted? Communicating with Patients and Families Four Essential Questions to Answer during Follow-up A Deeper Look at Root Cause Analysis Key Steps of an RCA Best Practice Model: RCA Tools for Conducting Root Cause Analyses Further Analysis Checklists for Prevention Why Checklists? Types of Checklists Utilization of Checklists Use Case 1: Infection Prevention Use Case 2: Environment of Care (EOC) Rounding Use Case 3: Safety Huddles Use Case 4: Individual Risk Assessments Use Case 5: Patient Experience Use Case 6: Employee Experience Checking In PART III Patient Safety as a Value-Based Care Initiative The Evolution of Value-Based Reimbursement The Impact of Patient Safety Programs on Patient Outcomes Conclusion Acknowledgment About the Author

About the Author :
HEIDI RAINES is a healthcare executive and entrepreneur working at the intersection of patient and employee safety, systems innovation, and technology. She has dedicated her career to designing solutions to ensure that healthcare organizations have access to the knowledge and technology needed to deliver safe, equitable, and quality care. Raines is the founder and CEO of Performance Health Partners, the leading software for patient and employee safety. She holds a Preceptor Faculty position at Tulane University’s Master of Health Administration program, serves as Board President of the American College of Healthcare Executives Women Healthcare Executive Network (WHEN. Raines has received awards for innovation and executive leadership and was named one of the Top 100 Influential Entrepreneurs in Technology.