Since “To Err is Human” was released, the healthcare industry has been setting goals to improve quality and safety. And, while improvements have been made, we can do better. Goals without implementation plans = hopes and dreams. Hear from NAHQ’s Chief Executive Officer Stephanie Mercado, CAE, CPHQ, about plans and progress toward activating a coordinated, competent healthcare quality workforce, which is built on validated industry standards and research, and the premise of unleashing human potential to create sustainable systems. 

Until now, the “DNA” of a high-functioning quality team and its individual contributors was impossible to define. During this session, research experts will unpack and triangulate the current research around standard competencies and skills, organizational benchmarking around quality resourcing, and research in improvement science. The findings offer the workforce never-before-seen insights into what needs to change in healthcare and how to change it. Hear highlights from NAHQ’s groundbreaking research and intelligence, laying the foundation for meaningful work across the industry.   

Building upon the previous session “The Quality Workforce: Building Sustainable Teams: Part 1”, this session will explore exactly HOW organizations are using the data to drive better plans for workforce development around quality and safety. Learn from four leading organizations that are hard wiring competency-based assessments and skilling solutions into their talent recruitment, retention, and development plans and how they are unleashing human potential to improve patient outcomes and overall quality and safety at their organization. Individual contributors will learn to consider how their skills fit into the larger team and leaders will learn how to put together a complex puzzle to help their team do their best work, sustainably.  

We have made progress on a culture of safety, but that may have been undone by the incident involving the former Vanderbilt University Medical Center nurse criminally prosecuted and found criminally liable for a fatal drug error in 2017. While individual accountability is important, more so are the systems that should be put in place to make safety achievable and sustainable. During this session, a panel of experts will discuss the case, and the impact it has had on culture of safety. The session will focus on how individuals working in healthcare quality and safety play a role in ensuring the right structures, process, and systems and leadership are in place to avoid these situations in the first place. You will leave this session with takeaways to contribute to the design and delivery of a safe care system.  

The healthcare system is complex, broken, and experiencing constant change that is near impossible to keep up with, and even more challenging to anticipate what’s next so you can prepare. An expert in healthcare research, Paul Keckley, PhD, simplifies the world of health policy and will identify critical macro trends for the next five years so those working in quality and safety can prepare to lead healthcare. Leave this session with an understanding of the future landscape and actionable next steps to prepare yourself and your workforce to lead. 

The guidance was 96 hours of supplies on hand in case of a crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic proved that was not enough. Well over two years into the pandemic and supply chain challenges continue across the continuum. The workforce needs to understand the impact and become “supply chain resilient.” This session will feature leading organization Johns Hopkins Hospital and how they focus on using quality tools to update the workforce on supply chain disruptions, how to train for new or temporary supply alternatives and how and when to bring in checks and balances to proactively avoid patient harm.

In a challenging economic environment, remaining relevant within your organization is critical to your survival. In aviation, complacency kills. The same is true in healthcare: if you become complacent and fail to ignore warning signs such as shifts in culture, proper workforce training, and others, you could be facing extinction. The first female F-14 fighter pilot in the U.S. Navy, Carey Lohrenz, will share tips for remaining relevant, accelerating performance, staying agile and adaptable, and working as a team to always maintain safety awareness. Leave this session with relatable examples to the aviation industry that can help you remain relevant in healthcare. 

As more professionals assume healthcare quality and safety roles at different – and in some cases, earlier – stages of their careers, they may experience unique opportunities to engage in improvement and transformation initiatives. This emerging leader session will feature advice from three rising-star panelists who led key change management initiatives over the past year. Hear how identified problems, deployed sustainability measures and experience improved outcomes. Attendees will understand how the panelists led with mindful intention, increased confidence in their abilities, earned a seat at the decision-making table, and made their mark within their organization along the way.