Safety Matters supports a culture of safety through transparency, continuous improvement, and learning about patient safety issues. Safety Matters uses three methods for enhancing communication and learning:
- E-newsletters
- Community Connects TV Screens
- Executive WalkRounds
E- Newsletters
BWH is dedicated to providing the safest, highest quality care to all the patients we serve. Part of our commitment to safety includes telling the stories of the mistakes we have made, what we have learned from them, and the system improvements that have been undertaken as a result. “Safety Matters” is a monthly e-newsletter publication that shares this information.
Telling patient safety stories through Safety Matters helps to support a culture where we acknowledge mistakes, openly discuss them in a blame-free environment, and then take steps to prevent similar errors in the future. Our goal is transparency. Greater transparency and discussion about patient safety events allows for communication across the hospital and promotes sharing and spreading of ideas for change.
Safety Matters is published monthly online and is available publicly via BWHSafetyMatters.org.
(Please note that prior to June 2015, Safety Matters was available only to BWH employees who may access those archives via the hospital intranet.)
Community Connects TV Screens
Television screens across the BWH campus communicate safety messages to staff, patients, and visitors. In addition to slides displayed on screens, we also feature short videos as another way to call attention to patient safety topics, such as patient identification, pager safety, hand hygiene, and medical orders.
We continue to develop new content for Community Connects TV screens with important information for patients, staff, and visitors in order to keep our community as safe as possible.
Executive WalkRounds
BWH utilizes “Safety Matters: Executive WalkRounds” to enhance the culture of safety at the hospital and improve processes to make care safer for our patients. These visits to patient care areas by hospital executives occur twice a month on different units or departments in both the inpatient and ambulatory settings.
WalkRounds provide an opportunity for staff to share their safety concerns directly with BWH executive leaders and the Patient Safety Team. WalkRounds helps to reinforce patient safety as a priority at BWH and increases awareness around patient safety issues. The goal is to obtain information from staff about issues that impact patient safety to help prioritize improvement efforts.
Executive WalkRounds promote patient safety as a top priority at BWH and allow for real-time feedback to our leadership. Many local improvement projects have started based on thoughtful discussions during WalkRounds sessions.
We have included patients in Executive WalkRounds and continue to do so whenever possible.
