Patient Safety (3)


What health care leaders can do to reduce the number of medical errors in their organization: It starts with culture. A culture of empowerment enables an organization’s frontline staff — the people with the most timely exposure to potential medical errors — to signal the presence of an error or defect and work together with their teams to resolve it. One of our most important questions for leaders is this: How are you enabling...
Leader Tools to Prevent Medical Errors
Recent Blog Posts
How Can Standardizing Surgery Tools Prevent...

An interview with Rosemary King, faculty member at Virginia Mason Institute In your career as the first director of the Kaizen Promotion Office at Virginia Mason,...

The Best Way to Approach Never Events

An interview with Ellen Noel, faculty member at Virginia Mason Institute When you think of never events, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? EN: I look at...

Capturing the Patient Voice

What if You Knew Exactly What Your Patients Were Thinking or Feeling? Millions of patients seek medical care in the United States each day. Capturing the stories...

Implementing a Real-Time Visual Monitoring System...

Problem Like so many other hospitals and medical groups, Virginia Mason grappled with how to help clinicians improve their performance. Typically, physicians...

Using the Nemawashi Gauge to Guide Improvement in...

A culture in support of safety is inextricably linked to a culture where continuous improvement thrives. Leaders drive values, values drive behaviors, and the...

A Doctor’s Courage

For generations the cultural norm in medicine has been that mistakes were discussed in private circles within the hospital or physician practice — if at all. It is...

Selected Resources

Healthcare Improvement Insights

Explore articles, case studies, and research that help healthcare leaders drive sustainable improvement.

Mistake-Proofing Primary Care

Mistake-Proofing Primary Care

Start Your Lean Health Care Journey Learn More Problem Virginia Mason recognized that mistakes and ...

Mistake-Proofing Primary Care

Start Your Lean Health Care Journey Learn More Problem Virginia Mason recognized that mistakes and ...

Why a Midwest Health System Went to Virginia ...

Why a Midwest Health System Went to Virginia ...

“The fact that Virginia Mason is driven by the same purpose we are – serving patients and ...

Why a Midwest Health System Went to Virginia Mason Institute for Help

“The fact that Virginia Mason is driven by the same purpose we are – serving patients and ...

Managing Phone Calls in Primary Care

Managing Phone Calls in Primary Care

Problem Responding to patient phone calls at Virginia Mason consumed a great deal of clinic time ...

Managing Phone Calls in Primary Care

Problem Responding to patient phone calls at Virginia Mason consumed a great deal of clinic time ...