System Safety is the lifeblood of a system that is well positioned to protect the patient. High-risk, high-reliability industries such as commercial aviation, nuclear power, the U.S. Armed Forces, and others have long realized that in order to achieve safety in a system it must be designed rather than inspected into it. We at The Salus Network have produced an effective system safety process that utilizes special technical and managerial skills in a systematic, forward-looking manner to identify, analyze, assess, and control hazards and risks your systems.

We begin by examining your clinical care system or systems for six specific system safety attributes. They are…

• Responsibility – Who’s in charge of each clinical care process? Here we look to see if there is a clearly identifiable, qualified, and knowledgeable person who is accountable for the quality of the clinical care process.
• Authority – Who is authorized to make changes to each clinical care process? Here we look to see if there is a clearly identifiable, qualified, and knowledgeable person with the power to establish and modify a clinical care process.
• Procedures – Here we look to see if there are clearly documented and implemented procedures for each clinical care process that answer who, what, when, where, and how type questions.
• Controls – Here we look to see if there are any checks or restraints designed into each clinical care process that ensures a desired result is achieved.
• Risk-Point Process Measurements – Here we look to see if your healthcare organization regularly assesses your clinical care processes in order to identify and correct problems or potential problems.
• Interfaces – Here we look to see how and when clinical care processes are coordinated between clinical and administrative disciplines.

Next, we specifically look for what we call “redundancy violators” that include:

• Single-Point system failures
• Latent system failures
• High probability combination failures
• Installation and Information Technology failures

We accomplish System Safety by Design by viewing an entire clinical care system as an integrated whole, not just individual departments/disciplines. We focus on the “Big Picture” in your healthcare organization in order to help you find an ideal level of system safety.

It’s important to remember that safety must be designed into clinical care systems rather than inspected into them.

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