Adverse events and patient harm impact not only patients but patients’ families and clinical staff, who strive to provide safe, high-quality care. BETA HEART^® (healing, empathy, accountability, resolution and trust) is a coordinated program that helps participating member organizations create a reliable, sustainable and transparent culture of safety.

Creating such a culture requires changes throughout the organization. BETA HEART is designed to help you develop and promote an empathic and clinically appropriate process that supports healing of both the patient and clinician. It ensures accountability for creating reliable systems that support the delivery of safe care. And it provides a mechanism for early, ethical resolution when harm occurs as a result of medical error or inappropriate care. By instilling this comprehensive, systematic and principled approach to responding to harm, BETA’s holistic effort results in improved relationships and renewed trust between patients, patient’s families and members of the healthcare team.

BETA HEART is a multi-year, interactive and collaborative process for moving organizations to a culture of safety, transparency and learning. It provides:

• Administration of a culture of safety survey including a process for debriefing that enables understanding physician and frontline staff perceptions of safety
• A process for early identification and rapid response to harm events
• A human factors approach to event investigation using a fair, just culture framework
• Honest and empathic communication with patients and family members that demonstrates a culture shift toward greater transparency
• A proactive process for providing emotional support for members of the healthcare team involved in or affected by an adverse event
• A formal method for early resolution when harm is deemed a result of inappropriate care or medical error