•PR: – Joint Commission President and CEO Contends New Approaches Necessary to Improve Health Care[®] [REF: GB, JCSC, LDR] Perspectives, November 2013, Vol 33, #11, Pg 1 JCp1311_B1

The October 2013 issue of Health Affairs (October 2013; Volume 32, Issue 10) contains a commentary by TJC’s President and CEO, Mark Chassin, MD., that continues his advocacy for high reliability in healthcare. The article is entitled “Improving the Quality of Health Care: What’s Taking So Long?” In this piece Dr. Chassin lists 3 strategies essential for improving the pace of progress toward ‘Harmless Healthcare’.

1 – Eliminate overuse of health services (one example given is the use of antibiotics for colds, which some might find analogous to administering antipsychotics for behavior problems).
2 – Recognize that one size does not fit all. (This is essentially another way of calling for use of Robust Process Improvement-type tools and approaches… #2 of the 3 factors listed in previous Chassin articles as essential for achieving high reliability)
3 – Create a culture of safety. (This is also the third factor described in previous articles for achieving high reliability).

Tip: For a more detailed roadmap of specific changes hospitals should make to achieve Harmless Healthcare, readers are referred to the September 2013 article in the Milbank Quarterly entitled “High-Reliability Health Care: Getting There from Here”. All LDRS and GB should read this article.
See also: Leading the way to high reliability by communicating and connecting
Inaugural (October) edition of TJC’s new Leadership Blog