In response to: Mitigating Patient Identification Threats

Dear Ms. Gelinas,

I am writing in response to the September 7, 2024, Volume 19, Number 9, article titled “Mitigating patient identification threats” (Fonseca et al., 2024). As a leader of a cardiovascular service line for a small rural health system, I found the article to be very thought provoking and thorough as it outlined how the implementation of high reliability principles to a unique patient situation. They protected the patients from harm and highlighted the dedication and commitment of the teams to strive for excellence and drive a culture of safety by the organization. Comprehensive details outlined how the care teams were proactive to identify any threat that could reach each patient and result in harm. Articles such as this one should be utilized by nurse leaders to reference for implementation and adoption of the high reliability principles.

Death by medical errors is estimated to be the third leading cause of death in the United States and many health systems are very interested in ways their organization can adopt these principles in efforts to achieve safety, quality, and efficiency goals (Veazie et al., 2019). The high reliability organization did extensive research on the unique patient situation, focused on interprofessional collaboration to identify threats and implemented a safety plan that involved every department that would encounter each patient (Fonseca et al., 2024). Regulatory agencies reinforce the importance of organizations to adopt high reliability principles but there is minimal guidance to health systems on how to effectively achieve the objective (Mossburg et al., 2019).

Sincerely,
Ashley Nutter, RN, BSN
Ohio University, School of Nursing