The children’s hospital of michigan quality and safety journey: Making safety first and making it last

Abstract

Quality improvement, while commonplace in manufacturing for decades, is a newer concept in health over the past 10-15 years. Accountability and transparency of patient care quality and safety metrics are becoming expectations of hospitals today. There is an increasing emphasis on the provision of quality care in the most cost effective manner, thereby yielding the highest value to our consumers (patients and families). The delivery of value is also highly desired by third party payers. To increase the safety of patient care delivery at our pediatric hospital, our journey to transform our safety culture took place 2 years ago, and was led by our hospital board and our executive leadership team. The collective passion for driving safety permeated through to the frontline staff of the hospital. Points of emphasis were daily safety huddles, increased event reporting, and intensive investigation of hospital safety events through root cause analysis and peer review. Positive reinforcement for near miss or “great catch” reporting is a regular occurrence, and has contributed to earlier identification of problems. Our 2-year journey has resulted in a marked increase in event reporting and reduction in serious safety events. Further, improved safety outcomes including reduction in central line associated blood stream infections and catheter associated urinary tract infections have led to our hospital achieving national recognition in 2013.