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PERSPECTIVE article

Front. Health Serv.
Sec. Implementation Science
Volume 4 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/frhs.2024.1523363
This article is part of the Research Topic Responding to Harm with Compassion, Accountability and Transparency View all articles

Communication and Resolution Programs Expose Hard-To-Hear Truths

Provisionally accepted
Gerald Hickson Gerald Hickson 1*Richard C Boothman Richard C Boothman 1,2Alice M Krumm Alice M Krumm 1Ronald Wyatt Ronald Wyatt 3
  • 1 Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, United States
  • 2 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States
  • 3 Orange Beach, Orange Beach, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Communication and Resolution Programs (CRP) favorable impact on professional liability claims continues to draw attention, but their role in supporting critical functions like peer review and pursuit of high reliability, may lead to more durable improvements in healthcare delivery. A hypothetical case involving a retained foreign body (RFB) illustrates CRP’s valuable synergistic role. A CRP approach, relying on clinical honesty and transparency and consciously aligned with a health system’s commitment to clinical excellence, patient centricity, and staff wellbeing will regularly identify opportunities to drive performance improvement and safety. Leaders, however, must be prepared to embrace and address hard-to-hear truths about dysfunctional systems or challenging humans, who may threaten outcomes of care and pursuit of a culture of safety and respect.

    Keywords: communication and resolution program, Professionalism, Team Member Wellbeing, Disclosure, medical error

    Received: 06 Nov 2024; Accepted: 31 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Hickson, Boothman, Krumm and Wyatt. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Gerald Hickson, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.