Making the trains run safely on time: how competent is the organization where you work?

A competent institution is characterized by individual and collective knowledge, skills, and attitudes that enable an organization to operate effectively. In the context of patient safety, a competent organization is one whose structures and processes enable care that is safe, effective, patient centered, timely, efficient, and equitable. Nurses and all health care professionals function best when the systems in which they work are competent and enable them to provide high-quality care. It's time hospitals and other organizations are held accountable for being competent in quality and patient safety, when nurses and other health care professionals are being called upon to do the same.