Coordination

Coordination icon blue circle

Set a clear structure for reporting errors and tracking progress, and work as a team to prioritize patient safety.

Patient Safety Planning Tools / Coordination

Decide who is responsible for coordination 

Make sure it’s clear who staff should contact with concerns and suggestions. Designate a patient safety coordinator who will:

  • Lead conversations on safety topics at staff meetings
  • Serve as point person for safety concerns
  • Set safety goals, test ideas and track progress
  • Follow up with staff who make suggestions
  • Organize the response to adverse events

Depending on your organization’s structure, the coordinator may report to an administrator, CEO or executive director.

Work together to improve safety

Make reporting instructions clear and encourage participation. Solicit input from patients and families to help identify what's working and where there are opportunities to improve.

Engage staff

  • Encourage staff to report ‘near misses’ and adverse events, or voice new ideas to improve safety. Organize a recurring safety huddle to discuss recent concerns and events.
  • Consider patient safety when making changes in your organization, like highlighting medication changes when re-designing patient forms. 
  • Assign concrete tasks
  • Depending on the size of the organization, designate a team to work with the patient safety coordinator on a regular basis.

Involve patients and families 

  • Post signs or share pamphlets encouraging patients and families to bring concerns and suggestions to the attention of the patient safety coordinator.  
  • Survey patients and families to learn what is working and what is not. This could be as simple as asking patients a few questions at the start of their appointments, or use this survey developed for use by primary care practices in Massachusetts as part the PROMISES project. Feel free to adapt it to serve your organization's needs.
  • Consider including a patient/family representative in regular meetings of the patient safety team and other committees. Talk to people with both positive and negative experiences.

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.

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