AORN Guidance Statement: Creating a Patient Safety Culture

Abstract

AORN believes all health care organizations must strive to create a culture of safety. Such a culture will provide an atmosphere where all members of the perioperative team can openly discuss errors, process improvements, or system issues without fear of reprisal. A culture of safety places an emphasis on flexibility and learning as a means of improving safety and reducing errors. Characteristics of a culture of safety include the following: communication is open and honest; the emphasis is on the team rather than the individual; standards and practices are developed in a multidisciplinary framework; staff members are helpful and supportive of each other; staff members trust each other; surgical team members have a friendly, open relationship emphasizing credibility and attentiveness; the environment is resilient, encourages creativity, and is patient outcomes-driven; the focus is on work flow and process; and these attributes are supported by an informed culture that learns from incidents and near misses. A commitment to safety must be articulated at all levels of the organization. Safety must be valued as the top priority, even at the expense of efficiency. Health care organizations must allocate an appropriate amount of resources and provide the necessary incentives or rewards to promote a robust patient safety culture. AORN recognizes that most patient safety initiatives will fail in the absence of a viable safety culture.