Resources for Executive and Senior Leader Support

NOTE: The resources included here do not constitute an endorsement by the Center for Patient Safety (CPS). CPS does not attest to the accuracy of information provided by linked sites.

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Senior leaders can demonstrate their commitment to safety and learn about the safety issues in their organization by making regular rounds for the sole purpose of discussing safety with staff. These Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) web pages discuss the benefits of management making regular rounds and give tips for doing the rounds, as well as links to resources. These rounds are especially effective in conjunction with safety briefings.

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The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Lucian Leape Institute conducted a research scan on board governance of health system quality, an evaluation of governance education in quality, and expert interviews. This work made it clear that board members and those who support them, want a clear and consistent framework to guide governance of all dimensions of quality beyond safety, including identifying the core processes and necessary activities for effective governance of quality. The framework, assessment tool, and support guides strive to reduce variation in and clarify trustee responsibilities for quality oversight. They also provide practical tools for trustees and the health system leaders who support them to govern quality in a way that will deliver better care to patients and communities.

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The Framework for Safe, Reliable, and Effective Care describes the key strategic, clinical, and operational components involved in achieving safe and reliable operational excellence - a “system of safety,” not just a collection of standalone safety improvement projects.

This Patient Safety Primer discusses the role of organizational leadership in improving patient safety. The crucial roles that frontline and midlevel providers play in improving safety are discussed in the related Safety Culture and High Reliability Patient Safety Primers.

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Leading a Culture of Safety: A Blueprint for Success was developed to bridge gaps in knowledge and resources by providing chief executive officers and other healthcare leaders with a useful tool for assessing and advancing their organization’s safety culture. This guide can be used to help determine the current state of an organization’s journey, inform dialogue with the board and leadership team, and help leaders set priorities.

Effectiveness of executive and physician leadership is essential to hospitals’ successful implementation and sustainment of safe practices. The Joint Commission Resources Hospital Engagement Network team developed this 39-page toolkit as part of the national Partnership for Patients initiative. The toolkit includes a concise synopsis of activities that help leaders and medical staff members activate their support for patient safety.

This guide to conducting safety huddles defines a safety huddle and suggests who should attend, when they should occur, and how to start a huddle program. Appendixes include safety huddle process maps, templates, and tools.

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This tool can be used to aggregate data collected during tests of safety briefings (also called “safety huddles”). When organizations first test safety briefings, it is important to gather information about staff perceptions of value. However, this information need not be collected at every briefing, but only at the beginning and end of the test. If an organization then decides to permanently implement safety briefings, other data collection tools may be used to track important information, such as issues raised by staff and opportunities to improve safety. 

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IHI developed this page of resources. IHI periodically receives urgent requests from 
organizations seeking help in the aftermath of a serious organizational event, most often a significant medical error. In responding to such requests, IHI has drawn on learning and examples assembled from many courageous organizations over the last 15 years who have respectfully and effectively managed these crises.

This provider self-assessment contains a list of questions for direct caregivers and nursing home leadership to assist facilities in assessing their approach to dementia care.