WEEKLY UPDATE: 02/13/25
On Wednesday, February 12, nearly 100 Connecticut healthcare leaders and providers convened at the Connecticut Hospital Association (CHA) in Wallingford to explore the next steps in Connecticut’s high reliability journey to improve patient safety and eliminate preventable harm in hospitals and health systems. As part of the statewide HRO Forward initiative, the training session kicked off a new leadership education series that reinforces high reliability principles and innovative approaches to safety for patients and the workforce.
The first session in the series, “Where Are We Now? The State of Safety in the U.S.,” was presented by Dr. Tejal Gandhi, chief safety and transformation officer at Press Ganey. During her presentation, Gandhi assessed patient safety trends across the country over the last 25 years. She highlighted data demonstrating improvement and discussed specific, innovative strategies to accelerate progress, including by expanding the scope of data collection to capture psychological, emotional, financial, and physical harm and by embedding equity into safety infrastructure.
Gandhi also described the correlation between healthcare workforce safety and positive patient experiences. When employees reported feeling safe at work, Gandhi stressed, patients reported higher satisfaction with their care.
This education series advances Connecticut hospitals’ commitment to providing safe, equitable, and reliable care to patients, families, and caregivers who depend on their hospitals.
CHA launched HRO Forward in the fall of 2023. It is the next phase in the statewide high reliability journey, building on the work that began in 2012 when CHA implemented the first-in-the-nation statewide collaboration to create a culture of safety. Through HRO Forward hospital participants across the state are learning about the latest innovations in safety science and collaborating to implement statewide programs that improve the quality of care for patients.
CHA’s High Reliability Organization Trainings are only open to CHA Patient Safety Organization Members. For more information, please contact CHA Education Services at 203-294-7263 or EducationServices@chime.org.
