Preventable errors are estimated to cost the U.S. healthcare system approximately $187.5 billion to $250 billion annually. (1) Effective Patient Safety programs can improve patient outcomes, reduce costs, and decrease preventable errors all at the same time. In recent years, healthcare organizations have begun placing focus on reforming organizational culture in order to maximize patient safety.

Safety huddles are a key tool for healthcare organizations to reduce patient harm, ensure accurate, consistent communication between staff, and promote patient and employee safety. Safety huddles can be defined as routine, brief meetings, usually at the beginning of the workday, comprised of staff from varying disciplines. (1)

The meeting is a time for care teams to discuss patient safety events, relay information about areas of safety concern such as short staffing, equipment or inventory, and to establish safety goals. (2)

There are 134 million patient safety events that occur each year, resulting in $20B in annual costs. (1) Patient safety technology supports healthcare organizations in their efforts to prevent patient safety events and yields the following outcomes:

Trudi Stafford, PhD, RN, and Clinical Advisor at PHP shares insight on developing a just patient safety culture. 

Trudi Stafford has 30+ years of health care leadership experience with an emphasis on informatics to positively impact patient safety and health care quality. She is a doctorally prepared nurse executive with prior work experience as the Chief Nursing Office at three of the nation’s largest health systems.