Communication

Patient Safety Planning Tools / Communication

Make safety part of your everyday conversation

• Discuss patient safety terms (such as close call) and other terminology to ensure a shared understanding in your organization.
• recent Talk about patient safety events and concerns in regular huddles or check-ins.
• Acknowledge ideas and concerns quickly, even when no immediate action can be taken.
• Thank staff for bringing attention to issues to reinforce the importance of open communication.
• Publicly acknowledge staff members for notable successes.
• Keep a board with sticky notes where staff can easily share ideas and issues
• Ask patients and families for input when devising new safety systems and practices.
• Add stories of “good catches” and other successes, challenges or tips to internal newsletters or email updates.
• Establish regular individual check-ins about safety with managers.

Maintain open communication

Always keep the internal lines of communication open when it comes to safety and make it easy to effectively communicate across areas and functions. 

• Provide clear methods to report adverse events and close calls 
  • Establish a formal reporting system and be clear about what must be reported to supervisors or facility managers
  • Consider allowing all staff to see the progress of patient safety reports, including the response.
• ​Encourage the reporting of concerns and suggestions 
  • Fostering a collaborative culture encourages staff to speak up without fear of repercussions. (See Culture for tips on fostering an open environment).
  • Consider an anonymous option in case staff are reluctant to voice concerns, with the long-term goal of establishing a culture where no one is worried about consequences (e.g., to employment, relationships with colleagues, or reputation).
  • Adapt this survey, developed as part of a patient safety initiative in Massachusetts called the PROMISES project, to learn more about how your staff views the processes you have in place that help ensure patient care is as safe as possible.

This page was adapted from the Betsy Lehman Center's Patient Safety Navigator. Visit the Navigator website to learn more about analyzing adverse events, communicating in the aftermath of serious harm, and reporting medical errors to state and federal agencies.