Strategies to Engage Frontline Teams and Leaders in Sustainable Change

A rapidly changing healthcare environment requires organizations to engage staff and physicians in new ways. External forces and internal priorities with decreasing resources create the need for innovative strategies to improve clinical outcomes, engage staff and physicians and meet the needs of patients and families. Barriers to safe reporting and participation in improvement work must be overcome before staff will feel secure enough to be involved in quality and patient safety initiatives. Safety forums, Robust Process Improvement®, microsystem assessment and Kaizen methodologies were utilized to assess current state, prioritize initiatives, implement changes and engage frontline staff and physicians. A variety of strategies were identified that engage frontline staff and align executive teams with frontline teams and microsystem level leaders.