By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Collaborative Anticipation; Helping Solve HealthCare Problems
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > Business > Collaborative Anticipation; Helping Solve HealthCare Problems
Business

Collaborative Anticipation; Helping Solve HealthCare Problems

Ken Cohn
Ken Cohn
Share
5 Min Read
SHARE

Next month, I expect to be home only three full days.  I quip that this is a marital protection strategy, now in its 28th year and give kudos to my family for supporting my passion to reach out to disgruntled doctors and hospital leaders, listen to their issues, and help them solve their problems through improved communication, engagement, and collaboration.

I call this process collaborative anticipation as I brainstorm ways that I can:

Next month, I expect to be home only three full days.  I quip that this is a marital protection strategy, now in its 28th year and give kudos to my family for supporting my passion to reach out to disgruntled doctors and hospital leaders, listen to their issues, and help them solve their problems through improved communication, engagement, and collaboration.

I call this process collaborative anticipation as I brainstorm ways that I can:

More Read

The Ultimate Guide for Finding and Editing Images for Your Medical Website
How Do Hospital CEOs Evolve in Today’s Market?
Case Study: Improving “The Market” Slide in a Medical Presentation
Improve Document Security in the Face of ICD-10: A HIPAA Checklist
Giving Interns More Sleep is Not Making Hospitals Safer
  • connect with people’s pain and aspirations
  • help them depersonalize their differences
  • make their time count
  • help them leave a lasting legacy

For example, I travel this week to Chicago to facilitate a 2-day discussion of quality and safety issues, which will give me the opportunity to learn from experts and share with them the insights in a chapter that I coauthored with Gary Yates and Carol Sale in Getting It Done on the pioneering work at Sentara to improve their safety culture. To deal with inadequate communication, inattention to detail, noncompliance with policy, and failure to recognize high-risk situations and use error-reduction techniques, they implemented four strategies to promote the practice of safe behaviors:

  • Expectation setting: developing behavior-based expectations (BBEs)linked to techniques for error prevention for all hospital staff, hospital leaders, and physicians
  • Operational focus: establishing “red rules” to focus employees’ attention on high-risk procedures that can result in patient harm if not followed exactly (e.g., positive identification prior to any action with a patient, site verification before surgery)
  • Effective tools: developing an enhanced root-cause and common-cause analysis process that was more timely and geared toward producing long-term, systems-oriented changes
  • Streamlined rules: adopting an approach for simplifying policies and procedures (e.g., identifying and standardizing key steps in a checklist)

Proof of their success lies in their results:

Staff increased their use of expected communications behaviors (such as using repeat-backs and clarifying questions) by 42 percent. Ventilator-associated pneumonias were reduced by 92 percent (6.15 to 0.42 per 1000 ventilator days) from January 2002 through December 2009, and the device-associated bloodstream infection rate fell 93 percent (3.68 to 0.42 per 1000 central line days) from January 2002 through December 2009.

Additionally, symptomatic catheter-associated urinary tract infections within the critical care units fell 66 percent (1.86 to 0.60 per 1000 foley catheter days) from January 2007 through December 2009. Total compliance to proper hand hygiene increased to 96% by December 2009.

What seems unique about the Sentara experience is that Dr. Yates was not satisfied with healthcare-specific benchmarks, so he looked to industries like nuclear power and aviation to improve quality and safety.  What do you think?

  • What is unique to your situation that benchmarks do not address adequately
  • What can you learn by making “apples-oranges” comparisons with leaders in other industries
  • Where can you benefit from collaborative anticipation, disrupting your thinking and your routines in order to improve care for your community

As always, I welcome your input to improve healthcare collaboration.

Kenneth H. Cohn

© 2012, all rights reserved

Disclosure: I have not received any compensation for writing this content.

©2012 Healthcare Collaboration. All Rights Reserved.

.

Collaborative Anticipation is an original post from Kenneth Cohn, Healthcare Collaboration. If you enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Ken on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.

TAGGED:Collaborationworkplace safety
Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

Nurse Scheduling Software
Evaluating 7 Best Nurse Scheduling Software
Nursing Technology
October 28, 2025
contamination
Batch Failures And The Hidden Costs Of Contamination
Health Infographics
October 21, 2025
Medication Management For Seniors
Simplifying Medication Management For Seniors
Infographics Senior Care
October 21, 2025
Guide To Pursuing a Career in Nursing as a Foreigner in the USA
Collaboration Is the Prescription for Better Patient Care
Health
October 20, 2025

You Might also Like

Teamwork Improves Surgical Safety and Reduces Mortality

April 18, 2011
global health
FinanceGlobal HealthcareHealth ReformPolicy & LawPublic Health

New PPP Tests Innovations in Health Aid

March 19, 2013

6 Powerful Ways to Start a Presentation to Doctors

May 9, 2014

HIPAA Not an Excuse for Lack of Innovation in Hospitals and Clinics

May 14, 2013
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?