Naval Hospital Jacksonville has incorporated daily safety briefs into its command-wide routine, to enhance patient safety.

While individual clinics and units have long used briefs, de-briefs, and team huddles as part of TeamSTEPPS®, this daily brief is command-wide.

“Daily safety briefs are one of the hallmarks of a high-reliability organization,” said Cmdr. Catherine Hagan, NH Jacksonville’s chief medical officer.  “These short meetings first thing each morning give our frontline staff and leaders the opportunity to share information, be aware of any potential issues affecting patient safety, and quickly resolve them.”

During the morning safety brief, hospital staff and leaders share issues that occurred in the past 24 hours, anticipate any adverse conditions for the next 24 hours, review steps taken to resolve previous issues, and review resources to correct new issues.

The goal of this daily meeting is to quickly resolve any safety issues and prevent them from recurring, Hagan said.

The concept of high reliability was initially developed in high-risk industries, such as aviation and nuclear power.  High reliability organizations operate in complex, high-hazard settings for extended periods without serious accidents or catastrophic failures.  They work to create an environment in which potential problems are anticipated, detected, and responded to early.

In healthcare, the foundation of high reliability includes:  leadership commitment to zero-harm goals, a positive culture of patient safety, and robust process improvement processes.

At NH Jacksonville, the journey to becoming a high reliability organization includes structures and processes such as a quality council, leadership rounds, patient safety reporting, patient safety surveys, patient safety tracers, patient safety awards, performance improvement projects, TeamSTEPPS®, 60 Seconds for Safety (post-procedure huddle), Caring Communications training for staff, a Health Care Resolutions program, a Patient and Family Advisory Council, and participation in the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program and National Patient Safety Goals.

Established at the beginning of June, the morning safety brief at NH Jacksonville includes leadership from all clinical directorates; branch health clinics; and non-clinical areas such as facilities, housekeeping, and information technology.  Participants attend the brief either in person or via phone.  Lessons learned and process improvement are shared among staff and leaders.

“What I considered to be a strong team has only become stronger,” Hagan said.  As chief medical officer, she leads the command’s quality council and provides medical oversight of the quality management program.

Naval Hospital Jacksonville’s priority, since its founding in 1941, is to heal the nation’s heroes and their families.  The command is the Navy’s third largest medical treatment facility, comprised of a hospital and five branch health clinics across Florida and Georgia.  Of its patient population (163,000 active and retired sailors, soldiers, Marines, airmen, guardsmen, and their families), about 84,000 are enrolled with a primary care manager and Medical Home Port team at one of its facilities.  To find out more or download the command’s mobile app, visit www.med.navy.mil/sites/navalhospitaljax.

Get more information about the Navy from US Navy facebook or twitter.

For more news from Naval Hospital Jacksonville, visit www.navy.mil/.