Hospitals Can Be Like Hotels, But Safety is a Far More Important Issue
This article caught my eye recently:
Skip the Fancy Towels, and Hire More Nurses
(via the NY Times)
Patient safety doesn’t improve through punishment, vigilance posters, or telling people to “be more careful.” It improves when leaders design safer systems, support speaking up, and focus on learning instead of blame. This archive brings together blog posts, podcasts, and reflections on patient safety through a Lean lens—exploring medical errors, near misses, psychological safety, leadership behaviors, and how healthcare organizations can reduce harm by fixing systems rather than blaming individuals.
This article caught my eye recently:
Skip the Fancy Towels, and Hire More Nurses
(via the NY Times)

A number of you emailed me about this report in the Detroit News. I grew up in Detroit and my first job was as a carrier for the News. Loved ones have received care from the Detroit Medical Center system……

The cancelation of a meaningless NFL exhibition pre-season game is probably one of the least important problems in the world. But, it happened recently and the “comedy errors” is interesting to think about. You might notice the headline of my…

Continuing my series of blog posts about my July trip to China, today’s post is about the second city I visited: Shanghai. This post has some photos and descriptions of the high-speed train trip and other travel-related details. You can…

I want to preface this post by saying it’s mostly about questions, not answers. I’ve had many readers and acquaintances ask me about what’s been going on at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle. The short answer is: “I don’t…

I’m going to be away from the blog (and Twitter) through July 13, but here are some blog posts from Julys of years past. 2015: See How a British Psychiatrist is Using LEGO Videos to Explain Lean Healthcare 2014: Weird Al’s Hilarious…

Recently, Chris Jerry, a friend in the patient safety movement (pictured, at left) told me that he was going to be interviewed on a Fox News Channel program about medical errors. You can read or listen (here and here) to my…

Mark’s Note: This is another guest post by Drew Locher (check out past posts and my podcast with him). There’s been a lot in the news about “medical error” arguably being the 3rd leading cause of death in the United…

Mark’s note: Today’s post is written by Laura Townsend, the founder of the Louise H. Batz Patient Safety Foundation. I learned about the foundation when I moved to San Antonio four years ago and am honored to serve on their…

Aviation lessons for patient safety anchor this conversation with Steve Montague, a retired Navy fighter pilot and commercial airline pilot who consults with hospitals on high-reliability practices. We get into checklists done well and done badly, why most hospital mistakes…

As Patient Safety Awareness Week continues, thanks to all of you who shared this PBS News Hour story with me via email or Twitter. If you ever see something you think might be of interest, please let me know. On…

Today is the first of two episodes that I’ll post here during Patient Safety Awareness Week. I agree with the National Patient Safety Foundation that every day should be patient safety day. I’m sure my guest for episode #245 would…