Exploring Systems Safety: Increasing Awareness of Work Design beyond Acute Care
Download your complimentary copy now to learn how a systems safety approach can drive continuous improvement within your organization.
Improving patient, resident, worker, and visitor safety within the US healthcare system has been a national priority for over two decades. Despite years of varied approaches—including targeted initiatives and funding for research, education, public reporting, and more—the risk of harm is still prevalent across all care settings. This has prompted an industry-wide effort to implement a systems safety approach to continuous improvement.
Systems safety considers how factors such as staffing and scheduling, workload, workflow, supplies and equipment, physical environment, and technology affect care delivery and safety outcomes. Using a systems safety approach, healthcare organizations can proactively assess current care delivery processes, identify internal and external influences, measure effects on safety outcomes, and identify system weaknesses to spur continuous improvement.
This white paper provides an overview of systems safety as a concept and calls for healthcare organizations to further explore:
- How their care and service delivery work as a system
- How system changes can affect outcomes
- How a systems safety approach can drive continuous improvement, particularly in non-acute care