Supporting Leadership Engagement in Patient Safety Tip Sheet
This tip sheet emphasizes that strong, visible leadership engagement is essential for building a culture of high reliability, strengthening system learning, promoting transparency, and ensuring patient‑safety improvements are aligned, supported, and sustained across the organization.
Who it’s for:
- Risk professionals and patient safety leaders
- Executive and senior leadership teams
- Quality, compliance, and clinical operations leaders
- Frontline leaders and unit‑based managers
- Interdisciplinary safety and performance‑improvement committees
What it can be used for:
- Strengthening leadership commitment to patient‑safety initiatives
- Embedding system learning and feedback loops into leadership routines
- Improving communication pathways and transparency across teams
- Supporting structured change management and aligned improvement efforts
- Guiding leadership involvement in sustaining long‑term safety practices
What’s inside:
- Situation: High‑reliability culture and patient‑safety progress rely on intentional, visible leadership engagement
- Background: Leaders influence learning, accountability, and transparency, ensuring safety initiatives remain aligned and sustained
- Assessment: Leadership must support system learning, structured change management, team engagement, and consistent feedback pathways
- Recommendations: Prioritize transparency, embed learning into routines, standardize change management and strengthen feedback loops
Key Resources
Related Resources
Certificate Programs
Recommended for risk professionals with less than 5 years, this 3-part course prepares individuals for their role by covering various aspects of risk…
Toolkits/Methodology
ASHRM has identified the following resources on patient safety to assist you in identifying useful information and helpful contacts.