HRO Champions Lead the Way for Bay Pines VA
Constructing a high-functioning health care organization is not dissimilar to crafting a good meal: in the absence of that key ingredient, the intended outcome may not be reached.
For the Bay Pines VA Healthcare System, one of the key ingredients in our journey toward becoming a High Reliability Organization (HRO) are our HRO Champions.
HRO Champions play a crucial role in the execution of our mission because when areas of process improvement are identified by frontline staff, the champions act as the liaison between their service and their leadership.
“Being an HRO Champion means ensuring everybody is accountable, but it’s also about creating a culture where we are constantly learning from, and growing with, each other,” said Bay Pines VA Voluntary Service Assistant and HRO Champion Ashley Espada. “This way, if we find a problem, we're able to discuss it and then find a solution to prevent it from happening again.”
As an HRO Champion, Espada conducts daily huddles with staff to ensure there are no safety concerns and, during those meetings, she encourages them to speak up if they notice any practices that detract from the delivery of safe health care to Veterans. When staff do voice concerns, Espada ensures they are added to a huddle board which is routinely reviewed by the healthcare system’s Executive Leadership Team.
This established practice helps ensure staff feel empowered to initiate process improvements that will benefit those we serve.
“HRO Champions were implemented in our facility in February 2022, and they have really allowed us to fulfill our initiatives and continue the conversation of promoting psychological safety and a just culture,” shared Bay Pines VA HRO Lead Dana Ingram.
Ingram continued, “Since establishing the program, we’ve increased leadership rounding by 300%; increased the average attendance of safety forums by 56% during the first nine months of fiscal year 24, and increased attendance for frontline safety huddles by 26% from fiscal year 23 to fiscal year 24.”
This increase in participation and staff involvement serves as evidence of how effective it can be when health care systems involve frontline staff in their efforts to cultivate a culture of safety.
“My dad served in the Navy for 22 years and I have other family members who served too, so it is ingrained in me to take care of Veterans,” Espada shared. “HRO is ultimately about helping Veterans to have a safe and positive experience. If we can make that happen, that's what I'm here for – that's my passion.”
Espada continued, “It feels great to be a change maker. Even though I might be a small part of HRO, I'm feel like I have a big role in helping to make a difference.”
Bay Pines VA is proud to say that our HRO Champion program was shared nationally as a best practice that other VA healthcare systems can reference in furtherance of their own HRO journeys. Currently, there are 64 champions across the healthcare system, but Ingram hopes to see that number grow with the goal of eventually having an HRO Champion for every service.
Staff who are interested in helping advance Bay Pines VA’s mission of zero harm for those we serve are encouraged to reach out to Ingram for information on how they can become an HRO Champion.
“If a service doesn’t already have an HRO Champion, they need one because they help infuse the principals of HRO into everything that we do,” Ingram shared. “It's infectious to have HRO Champions like Ashley. I think when people see the passion she brings to this role, it makes them want to contribute to the cause too.”