Show 952: Why Is Flying Safer Than Health Care? Developing a Safety Culture

Airplane crashes are extremely rare, because the airline industry figured out a few decades ago how to encourage a culture of safety in which anyone on the team is encouraged to speak up if they notice something amiss. Yet, some people are still nervous about getting on a plane. Health care has never gotten the media attention that accompanies a plane crash. Perhaps because of that, hospitals fly under the radar. Firm figures are hard to come by, but the best estimates place deaths due to health care harm around 500,000 a year in the US–equivalent to 1,000 jets dropping out of the sky. What could health care learn from aviation safety?

Guests: Kathleen Bartholomew, RN, MN, is a national consultant and speaker on patient safety. Her books include Speak Your Truth; Ending Nurse-to-Nurse Hostility: Why Nurses Eat Their Young and Each Other; and Charting the Course: Launching Patient-Centric Healthcare, co-authored with her husband John Nance. Her website is http://www.kathleenbartholomew.com/ John Nance, JD, was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force and a pilot in commercial aviation. He is an internationally recognized broadcast analyst and advocate for both aviation and health care safety. His books include Blind Trust; Why Hospitals Should Fly: The Ultimate Flight Plan to Patient Safety and Quality Care; and Charting the Course: Launching Patient-Centric Healthcare, co-authored with his wife Kathleen Bartholomew.