Cathy E. Duquette, executive vice president of nursing affairs at Lifespan Corp., was recently named to Becker’s Hospital Review’s 2018 list of “50 experts leading the field of patient safety.”
Duquette joined Lifespan in 2006, after working as senior vice president and chief quality officer of Rhode Island Hospital and Hasbro Children’s Hospital as well as working as vice president of nursing and patient care services and chief nursing officer of Newport Hospital.
She is a fellow of the National Association for Healthcare Quality and has extensive experience evaluating and monitoring health care providers. She previously served as an appraiser for the Magnet Recognition Program and as senior vice president of the Hospital Association of Rhode Island.
PBN: What is the single-most concerning issue in patient safety and quality today in health care?
DUQUETTE: Today’s health care environment is incredibly complex. From my perspective, one of the most concerning issues in patient safety and quality is unnecessary variation in care processes. The more that the health care industry can do to make daily care processes standardized, reliable and predictable, the safer they become.
PBN: As a leader in patient safety and quality, what initiative or success are you most proud of and why?
DUQUETTE: I am most proud of the work we have done at Lifespan to create a robust systemwide structure to support quality and safety, and that we have integrated the highly successful tools of Lean and Six Sigma in our core improvement processes across Lifespan. Lean tools focus on eliminating efforts proven not to add value and Six Sigma tools focus on increasing reliability.
With Lifespan’s system approach to quality and patient safety, our hospitals and other settings are safer because when an opportunity arises to improve safety at one location, we implement strategies across our system to improve safety in all settings.
PBN: How do Lifespan hospitals’ patient safety and quality scores compare with comparable health care organizations regionally and nationally?
DUQUETTE: Lifespan has achieved numerous patient safety and quality accomplishments. In addition to achieving national recognition for nursing excellence and numerous national certifications and recognition for care of some of the most complex patient conditions, Lifespan hospitals’ patient safety and quality scores are among the best in several key areas. A most recent example is from The Leapfrog Group, which once again awarded all eligible Lifespan hospitals with “A” grades for hospital safety.
PBN: How can health care systems/hospitals create a culture in which every employee – from registration to physicians – feels safe to report concerns or make suggestions that impact patient safety and quality?
DUQUETTE: Lifespan is a leader in patient safety reporting. For many years, staff and providers at all levels in our hospitals and other settings have understood the importance of and their obligation to report unsafe conditions and near misses.
We believe that our nonpunitive environment makes individuals feel safe to report. We also encourage reporting by reaching back to thank individuals who report concerns or make suggestions that could improve patient safety and quality, and recognize them with their peers.
PBN: What do you hope to achieve in the next year?
DUQUETTE: Over the next year, my aim is to continue to advance the work we have been doing to make our hospitals among the safest in the nation. While we have invested much time and effort in building robust structures and processes to support patient safety and quality, we are now planning to focus on engaging more of our frontline staff and providers to further advance our culture of safety.
Rob Borkowski is a PBN staff writer. Email him at Borkowski@PBN.com.
