MHA Empowers Hospitals With Patient Safety Resources

An American Hospital Association report shows that patient safety, patient experience, and workforce experience and well-being are tied together by a hospital or health system’s culture of safety.

The report found when health care leaders make creating a culture of safety their top priority, it greatly impacts patient safety outcomes, the patient experience, and workforce engagement and resilience.

“With all of the work being done in and around safety and workforce, it’s important to align the relationship between safety, staff retention and culture as one focus for hospitals and health systems,” said Karie Untiedt, R.N., MSN, director of quality and patient safety at the Missouri Hospital Association.

The report stated a culture of safety should include the following:

• an environment where anyone can speak up,
• confidence that improvements occur when issues are reported,
• fair and compassionate treatment when an error occurs, and
• effective teamwork and communication.

The report noted a culture of safety is so important that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has made it one of its five structural domain metrics.

As part of the fiscal year 2025 final rule, CMS is requiring hospitals participating in the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting program to report on the Patient Safety Structural Domain Metrics, which provide a way for hospitals to address a topic for which no outcome measure exists.

CMS’ five domains for measurement are:

1. leadership commitment to eliminating preventable harm,
2. strategic planning and organizational safety,
3. culture of safety and learning health systems,
4. accountability and transparency, and
5. patient and family engagement.

Patient Safety Dashboard

To support hospitals in improving patient safety and quality outcomes, MHA and the Hospital Industry Data Institute developed a new Patient Safety Dashboard within the HIDI Advantage Care Optics® Portfolio.

This complimentary, interactive tool provides key patient safety and quality metrics, benchmarking capabilities, and insights to help hospitals identify best practices. The dashboard also will enhance MHA’s advocacy efforts by identifying statewide resources needed to support hospital-led safety initiatives.

Importance of teamwork

According to AHA’s patient safety report, across numerous clinical areas, the greatest factor of a patient’s likelihood to recommend a hospital, facility or provider is perception on how well their care team members work together.

“A key driver to improving the patient experience is the teamwork of caregivers,” Untiedt said. “Better teamwork leads to better outcomes, which leads to better experiences for both patients and staff.”

Health care staff interested in learning more about training opportunities that offer ways to improve collaboration and communication within their organization are encouraged to contact MHA about TeamSTEPPS, or Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety.

TeamSTEPPS is based on team structure and four learnable skills — communication, leading teams, situation monitoring and mutual support. The team structure includes everyone in the patient care team including patients, families, direct caregivers and all individuals who play a supportive role.

Workforce well-being

The AHA report also notes that investing in the well-being of a hospital’s workforce improves patient care. “An energized and engaged workforce improves the care provided to patients, the physical and psychological well-being of patients, and how patients perceive the work to keep them safe,” the report states.

MHA’s 2023 Workforce Report provides tips for hospitals to better care for and retain staff: “Health system leaders must normalize help-seeking behavior, provide mentorship to less experienced nurses, and build support systems and training to help leaders and staff identify and address well-being. Organizations not only must support team member resilience but give them a voice in addressing workflows and processes that may impede their work.”

MHA offers numerous resources on workforce well-being for hospital staff who want to learn more about this topic.