VISN 8 Staff Defer to Expertise on Journey Toward High Reliability
The VA Sunshine Healthcare Network (VISN 8) kicked off 2024 with a three-day High Reliability Summit in Tampa, Fla. As part of the group’s training, and to gain a better understanding of best practices from outside of health care, the group visited TECO Peoples Gas.
“We chose to work with TECO Peoples Gas because they are an award-winning, industry leader in safety,” said VISN 8 High Reliability Organization (HRO) Officer Rosanna Powers. “Our organization learns from other complex, high-risk organizations, and Peoples Gas shares our passion for making safety their top priority in everything they do.”
The journey toward becoming an HRO has been a top priority for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) since 2019.
“It’s very apparent that safety is embedded in this culture,” shared Bay Pines VA HRO Lead Dana Ingram. “I love how Peoples Gas created a training environment where they plant hazards for the trainees to identify. By presenting staff with the worst-case scenarios, they become better prepared to address real-world dangers.”
HRO teams at each healthcare system are comprised of a lead who works alongside personnel from patient safety, quality management, and systems redesign and innovation. Approximately 35 VA employees from the VISN network office, and healthcare systems across the VISN, traveled to Peoples Gas’ Tampa headquarters to receive a presentation from Peoples Gas Director of Safety Management System Linda Barker about the structures that helped them build a culture of safety.
“Sharing our best practices is a wonderful opportunity to exchange ideas,” Barker said. “When organizations get into the day-to-day, and we think we’re implementing long-standing programs well, how do we really know? The only way to test that theory is by talking to other safety professionals who might not be in the same industry.”
At the conclusion of the presentation, VA attendees received a walking tour of Peoples Gas’ training grounds. During the tour, VA staff were shown the training modules that help Peoples Gas employees identify hazards in homes, businesses, and public areas.
“I found it interesting how similar our safety processes are, and I think it’s important to attend these types of trainings because it can be synergistic,” said Tampa VA Healthcare System’s Patient Safety Manager Laura Smith. “Peoples Gas may do things a little differently, but I can still take the things I’ve learned today and apply them to our organization.”
Although VA and Peoples Gas serve different missions, the goals of each organization overlap in one respect: the safety of those they serve, and their staff, is placed above all else. VA recognizes that improved patient outcomes reside in the exchange of lessons learned with professionals who are both internal and external to the enterprise.
“If other entities can offer safer and more efficient modes of operation, that’s where we need to learn from,” Ingram stated. “The success of an organization begins with safety. Continuing to root that in our culture is what’s ultimately going to help us reach zero harm for our Veterans.”
VISN 8 consists of the Bay Pines VA Healthcare System; the Tampa VA Healthcare System; the Miami VA Healthcare System; the North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System; the Orlando VA Healthcare System; the VA Caribbean Healthcare System, and the West Palm Beach VA Healthcare System.