Mary Lanning Memorial Hospital: communication is key.

BACKGROUND

Mary Lanning Memorial Hospital (MLMH) defines a culture of safety "as a pattern of behavior, both individual and organizational, and an underlying philosophy that seeks to minimize hazards and harm to patients that result from the processes of care." The hospital's strategic plan designates quality of care as its first priority, and one of its two priority goals is "To continue to identify and implement patient safety initiatives that will positively affect care delivery processes while minimizing patient safety errors, defects, and sentinel events, and striving for zero defects."

PATIENT SAFETY AS A LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATIONAL PRIORITY

An occurrence in 2000 highlighted the need for a standardized medication administration process. It is anticipated that the ongoing bar-code point-of-care technology project will significantly reduce medication administration errors as they relate to the five rights, better capture near-miss data for further analysis, and increase nursing personnel time efficiency.

CHALLENGES AND LESSONS LEARNED

MLMH has experienced three significant challenges in implementing and sustaining a culture of safety. First, as the central component of all patient safety activities, communication requires constant vigilance. Second, on the basis of the experience, for example, with the bar-code point-of-care technology project, introducing technology presents a variety of challenges. Third, although many patient safety initiatives can be accomplished with minimal funding, large-scale initiatives usually necessitate a significant financial commitment.