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Senior Living & LTC: Reducing preventable incidents with a culture of safety

Tara Clayton is joined by Marsh clinical risk specialists JoAnne Carlin and Doris Fischer-Sanchez on this episode of the Risk Insights: Senior Living & LTC podcast to review how to create, promote, and maintain a culture of safety.

07/27/2022 · 2 minute read

For senior living and long-term care owners and operators, a culture of safety is a shared set of beliefs and values that ensures individuals and groups act in a way that creates safe operations for residents, visitors, and employees. Tara Clayton is joined by Marsh clinical risk specialists JoAnne Carlin and Doris Fischer-Sanchez on this episode of the Risk Insights: Senior Living & LTC podcast to review how to create, promote, and maintain a culture of safety.

Carlin and Fischer-Sanchez explain how leaders can help drive a culture of safety at their organization by promoting safety above other concerns and empowering staff to speak up when they see processes and procedures that might not be leading to safe outcomes. In senior living and long-term care communities, a culture of safety must also embrace and empower residents, visitors and their families to understand the importance of prioritizing safety.  

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Key takeaways

Prioritization of safety

All members of the team should understand that management values safety first above all other priorities. Shortcuts and workarounds that create safety risks should be identified and eliminated, or policies and procedures re-evaluated to see if changes are needed. Other business metrics – such as cost, revenue, satisfaction surveys, etc. – are critical but shouldn’t be emphasized in a way that puts safety at risk.

Buy-in from top-down

Leaders should deliver a clear mandate to emphasize the importance of safety and all members of the organization are responsible for contributing to the culture. The stand-up meeting is an excellent opportunity to stress the culture of safety to all groups – from sales and marketing and finance to operations and care teams.

Teamwork

All levels within an organization play an important role in creating a culture of safety. Developing a system of shared beliefs and behaviors that promote safety between management, staff, residents, and visitors will help drive this within the community. 

About our speakers

Portrait of Tara Clayton with white background

Tara Clayton

Managing Director, Marsh Senior Living & LTC Industry Practice

Tara Clayton is a client executive in Marsh’s Senior Living and LTC Industry Practice. In this role, she advises clients with strategic and tactical advice concerning effective general and professional claim resolution, risk management, and strategies to obtain maximum insurance coverage across lines of coverage. Tara’s expertise with complex litigation and creative risk management initiatives helps reduce costs, enhance value, and increase client control of their risk management programs.

JoAnne Carlin

JoAnne Carlin

Senior Vice President, Clinical Risk

JoAnne Carlin is the leader of clinical risk services for Marsh Senior Living & LTC Industry Practice. She provides consultation to clients regarding operational and clinical risk and participates with industry organizations to promote risk management solutions and best practices. She uses her experience to support a practical approach to selecting and implementing risk management strategies that are sustainable within the context of each client’s culture and that serve to promote resident care.

Doris Fischer Sanchez

Doris Fischer-Sanchez

Senior Vice President, Clinical Risk

Doris Fischer-Sanchez provides clinical risk services for Marsh’s Senior Living & LTC Industry Practice, based in the Chicago office. She provides consultation to clients regarding organizational and clinical risk to promote risk management solutions and best practices. Doris develops thought leadership, training, and other resources in order to assist with identification and management of risks to promote resident safety and reduce losses.

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