Over the last 18 months I have been thinking about the social, moral and financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. I am seeing historic levels of workforce shortages, clinical burnout and moral injury, as well as continued cost escalation. The pandemic is not over, and these issues are escalating daily. Is it time we look at our past practices and rethink our patient visitation practices that could be reshaped and reimagined to support a culture of high reliability? Many of our healthcare organizations have adopted a philosophy of eliminating patient harm events. It is an initiative I feel passionately about. When I was Chair of ACHE’s Board of Governors, I instigated the development of “Leading a Culture of Safety: A Blueprint for Success.” In 2016, medical error became the third leading cause of death in the United States. It has been reported that medical error accounts for more than 242,000 deaths annually, and some sources believe the number could be closer to 400,000 deaths per year.

The Digital Safety Courses are part of our ongoing effort to provide healthcare leaders with the tools and resources needed to lead for safety. The publication Leading a Culture of Safety: A Blueprint for Success was used as the framework for these courses. The Blueprint is a joint effort from ACHE and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement/National Patient Safety Foundation Lucian Leape Institute.

Since Leading a Culture of Safety: A Blueprint for Success was published in 2017, it has been a powerful tool for healthcare systems to improve patient safety. To reach our obligation of eliminating all patient harm, we must acknowledge that the environment in which we deliver healthcare, and our processes for maintaining patient safety, evolve over time.

Check out August 2021's selections for our “What’s On Your Bookshelf?” series from Health Administration Press, the publishing division of the Foundation of the American College of Healthcare Executives. As one of the largest publishers in the field of healthcare management, there are titles for healthcare professionals at every stage of their career.

Around the world, far too many women and babies are suffering the sometimes fatal consequences of preeclampsia. This dangerous pregnancy complication—characterized by high blood pressure and signs of damage to another organ system, most often the liver and kidneys—can happen to anyone, but it disproportionately affects Black mothers and women over 35.

As we reflect on healthcare’s journey through COVID-19, this unique time calls for a new set of strategies and innovations to address the needs of the populations we serve. This is true in response to the pandemic and to other community-based public health needs and inequities within systems that the pandemic exposed. As with many efforts to impact health and equity, the systemic effects of COVID-19 cannot be addressed by healthcare alone. Healthcare leaders recognize the importance of the following statements, yet many struggle to orient their organizations to address them: health and well-being are created primarily outside the walls of the healthcare organization; to be agents of a health-creating system (while still maintaining the core role of healing illness), healthcare organizations have an increasing opportunity and responsibility to partner with leaders, agencies and members in the community.

The COVID-19 pandemic has radically changed the way we live, work, learn and play. Our new reality poses a unique set of challenges for all of us, especially as healthcare leaders as we focus on improving staff wellness while running high reliability organizations.

The COVID-19 pandemic created countless challenges for healthcare providers, but some silver-linings-minded leaders believe the health crisis also accelerated innovation in quality and safety. In a March/April 2021 Healthcare Executive column, Richard Brant, MD, CPHQ, medical director for quality and patient safety at West Virginia University Medicine Children’s Hospital, expressed his belief that the heightened activity catalyzed by the pandemic will ultimately help organizations move along the journey to zero harm.

The statistics on patient deaths due to medical error are alarming. Even still, these statistics don’t take into account serious temporary or permanent physical and psychological harm caused by medical error, nor do they include harm to the healthcare workforce. Medical errors impact caregivers greatly, from concern for their patients and job, to possible isolation, depression and self-harm. The feeling of desolation after an incident is typically worse in organizations that lack supportive systems.

ACHE joins with members of the National Steering Committee for Patient Safety to announce the release of a National Action Plan to provide health systems with renewed momentum and clearer direction for eliminating preventable medical harm. Safer Together: A National Action Plan to Advance Patient Safety draws from evidence-based practices, widely known and effective interventions, exemplar case examples, and newer innovations. The plan is the work of 27 influential federal agencies, safety organizations and experts, and patient and family advocates, first brought together in 2018 by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.