High Reliability Healthcare: Applying CRM to High-Performing Teams, Part 5

Element #4 – Assertiveness

In the 1960s and 1970s, Dutch psychologist Geert Hofstede conducted extensive research on how humans interact in a culture or organization. One of the measures he used to define this interaction is known as the power distance index, or PDI. This index measures power distance among cultures and indicates attitudes toward hierarchy – in particular, how a culture values and respects authority. The higher the power distance in a culture, the less likely those in subordinate roles will question the actions or directions of individuals in authority.

Read More »

Patient Safety on the Move in Hospital Pharmacies

Notes from the American Society of Health System Pharmacists’ (ASHP) 2011 meeting.

By Mitch Work, MPA, FHIMSS

Billed as the largest conference for hospital pharmacists in the world, the 46th Annual ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting and Exhibition was held Dec. 4-8 in New Orleans.

Read More »

High Reliability Healthcare: Applying CRM to High-Performing Teams, Part 3

By Steve Kreiser, CDR, USN Ret., MBA, MSM

In December 1972, Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 was on its final approach to the Miami International Airport late at night when the crew noticed a green “landing gear down” indicator light was not illuminated. The captain made the decision to abort the landing attempt and circle the airport to troubleshoot the problem over the vast darkness of the Florida Everglades

Read More »

High Reliability Healthcare: Applying CRM to High-Performing Teams, Part 2

By Steve Kreiser, CDR, USN Ret., MBA, MSM
The success of any team – whether in sports, business, or healthcare – starts and ends with its leader. Some leaders are collaborative by nature and some are not. Those leaders with a dictatorial style that inhibits the flow of information will have a difficult time making crew resource management (CRM) work in their team settings.

Read More »

High Reliability Healthcare: Applying CRM to High-Performing Teams

By Steve Kreiser, CDR, USN Ret., MBA, MSM

In 2006, Lauren Wargo, a 19-year-old from Shaker Heights, Ohio, went to an outpatient surgical center where a plastic surgeon was going to remove a mole from her eyebrow. The oxygen used during her surgery and an electrical device used to seal blood vessels combined to create a flash flame that left her face, neck, and ear badly burned. Four years later, the 23-year-old still has to wear make-up to cover the scars on her face and is unable to completely close one eyelid.

Read More »