Implementing Daily Leadership Safety Huddles in a Public Hospital: Bridging the Gap

A Leadership Safety Huddle was instituted in efforts to improve communication and make safety culture a priority at our institution. The Huddle is a transparent, regularly recurring forum of clinical and administrative hospital leaders, in which safety issues and concerns are identified, shared, and swiftly addressed.

Metrics regarding huddle effectiveness in 3 areas are studied: information technology (IT) services ticket resolution time, bladder catheterization, and one-to-one inpatient monitoring.

Analysis revealed effectiveness of the huddle on quality of inpatient care and cost savings. Survey revealed 75% or higher favorable responses to huddle improving communication, transparency, time to resolution of issues, ability to voice concerns, and patient safety. As a result of huddle implementation, metrics showed 46% reduction in IT ticket turnaround time (P = .0001), 28% reduction in non-intensive care unit bladder catheter days (P = .011), and 10% decrease in continuous observations (P = .008), allowing a 24% reduction in cost (P = .001) with quarterly savings of $139 107.00.

These metrics demonstrate how huddles are instrumental in infusing and sustaining a culture of patient safety in hospitals.