Quality and Safety in Health Care, Part LXXXII: Introduction to High Reliability Organizations.

Abstract

Reports from the Institute of Medicine regarding the number of errors in medicine leading to fatalities prompted a major review of medical practices and a move to make medical systems high reliability organizations. Many of the concepts used today to improve performance in health care are borrowed from what has been learned from successes and accidents in other industries, especially in the aviation, space, and nuclear power programs. An emphasis on excellent leadership and communication, the knowledge that there needs to be an emphasis on system failures rather than human failures, and having a safety culture that encourages everyone to be mindful of potential errors and report errors are critical to achieve high reliability.