Setting
Your Hospital's Flight Plan to Destination Excellence
What can hospitals learn from the safety initiatives of the
aviation industry? Author John Nance connects the dots, and
discusses the importance of implementing best practices to
eliminate human errors in health care.
(6/8/2010)
In the early 1980's, the airline industry
underwent a period of monumental cultural change, in order to
reduce instances of human error affecting flight safety. By
focusing on open communication, shared responsibility, and
teamwork among pilots and crew, aviation has gradually become
one of the safest modes of transportation today.
One of the pioneers of this transformation was Air Force
Veteran and former professional pilot John Nance, who has
recently published the book "Why Hospitals Should Fly,"
about what hospitals can learn from the aviation industry to
improve patient care processes and reduce medical errors.
"Hospitals need to establish a team approach to health
care that is similar to what has become the standard for
aviation-where everyone, whether they are a physician, nurse,
or staff member, feels comfortable speaking up if they see
something that isn't right," says Nance, who adds that
the care team as a whole is far more capable of catching
errors than any one leader, no matter how skilled that person
may be.
"People are often afraid to talk to their leaders about
problems they encounter, and this fear keeps dysfunctional
processes in place. But everyone has the power to impact
patient safety. If health executives can build trust with
their staff, and encourage them to offer clinical feedback
where it's needed, the hospital will become a much safer
place."
With medical errors representing the third leading cause of
death in the U.S., Nance also urges hospitals to take
advantage of I.T. capabilities for more standardized care
processes, best practices, and automated alerts. However, he
also believes that countering clinician resistance is
critical to technology's success in this area.
"For many years, doctors and nurses have felt that they
should be infallible, incapable of making a mistake," he
says. "Because of that, some clinicians shy away from
technologies and processes that are new, because they don't
want to do anything wrong. That's why having a team approach
to problem solving—admitting no one is perfect and
focusing on the safer way to do things, rather than the
traditions of how things have worked in the past—is so
important."