Speak up for Quality Initiatives in Healthcare

If you go to any meeting about patient safety or quality and say nothing, it would have been better if you hadn't gone at all.

If you go to work and do only what you're told, and never look for a way to do what you do better, you're not being negative, but the lack of initiative you demonstrate costs the entire unit, because you're using a slot that could have been filled by someone who would have added more value.

It's tempting to work quietly, comply, and rationalize that at least you're not doing anything negative to hurt your patients. But the opportunity cost to your hospital that must compete in a new world of safety data transparency, and ever more dangerous world of high-tech medicine complexity is significant.

Not adding value in patient safety is the same as taking it away. What will you do today to be more reliable, have less variability, and ensure things don't fall through the cracks?