What's New

Search Spotlight - High Reliability Organizations (HRO)

The topic of today's Search Spotlight is the "High Reliability Organization", or HRO. The HRO is a trending topic, and for good reason. You may recall that becoming an HRO, with safety as the cornerstone of it all, is one of our 2024 Long-Term Initiatives. But what is an HRO? If you haven't viewed the video on "Becoming A High Reliability Organization" on the Banner Connect Annual & Long-Term Initiatives site, it's a great place to start. Do you remember the 5 characteristics of HROs? They are: 

• Sensitivity to Operations
• Preoccupation with Failure
• Deference to Expertise
• Commitment to Resilience
• Reluctance to Simplify

The link between safety and reliability in a HRO is undeniable. Cultivating an environment in which all health care workers are encouraged to voice their concerns and foster curiosity and an eagerness to learn is crucial to the safety for all.

To help you learn more about HROs, Banner Librarians have put together some resources to support you in becoming even more invested in our journey to prioritize our Culture of Safety.

• Please have a look at this Library Guide (LibGuide) on HROs and connect to the 25 ebooks on topics related to safety and HROs.  As a Banner Health team member, you have full-text access to these ebooks, among many other resources.  If you'd like to learn more about how to search for HRO topics in library article databases, please book an appointment for group or individual instruction. 
• 2 additional books that were specifically recommended to Banner team members were Managing the Unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty (limited Google book preview) and Safety at the Sharp End: a Guide to Non-Technical Skills (limited Google book preview). If you don't want to buy your own copy, don't pay out of pocket! You may borrow these for free from your local public library or Banner librarians can obtain at least a couple of chapters each for no cost.
• Articles - list of PubMed articles limited to the last 5 years on the subject of HROs. This is by no means an exhaustive list as there are several databases that may house this information. 

Relevant terms and keywords/phrases to help you in your search:

• Aligned leadership
• Asking/speaking up
• Culture of Safety
• Human Factors
• Learning Organization
• Listening
• Patient Harm
• Peer-to-peer
• Preventable harm
• Preventable patient harm
• Prioritizing safety
• Safety & reliability
• Service errors
• Shared accountability
• Teamwork

Reach out to the team for help conducting an exhaustive review or to request training on the use of library resources at Banner! We are passionate about connecting you with relevant, quality information that can be put to use to help you and your patients.