Abigail Harte-Williams, RN, JD, MPH, MS, CPPS, CPHRM, Synensys’ Safety Management Consultant, captivated an audience at Brown University on April 29th, 2025, with her insights on patient and clinical safety. The event, attended by Emergency Medicine residents, fellows, and leadership team members, focused on innovative approaches to improving healthcare safety.
Harte-Williams introduced cutting-edge methods for analyzing incidents and near misses, advocating for system safety approaches such as CAST and STPA. She shared real-world scenarios where issues were identified and addressed using Root Cause Analysis (RCA) and discussed how a broader approach could lead to better outcomes.
A major theme of the presentation was the need to shift from a blame-focused retrospective approach to understanding incidents from a macro perspective. Harte-Williams emphasized the importance of building robust systems to prevent errors before they reach patients, a process that requires significant effort, transparency, honesty, and time. Healthcare has traditionally not invested sufficiently in building robust safety systems.
Acknowledging the dedication of Emergency Medicine, EMS, and critical care transport teams, Harte-Williams highlighted the need for educating healthcare professionals about alternative safety approaches. She underscored that a culture of safety is essential for progress and reducing harm, outlining standard practices such as error education, reporting systems, and three types of analysis: Root Cause Analysis, Apparent Cause Analysis, and Common Cause Analysis.
Healthcare providers often ask how to avoid lawsuits. Harte-Williams advised focusing on patient care rather than personal liability. The priority should be doing what’s right for the patient. She also discussed strategies to prevent the weaponization of event reporting, where safety event reports are used against colleagues.
The presentation was part of an ongoing educational initiative with Brown’s Emergency Medicine training programs and LifePACT, a critical care transport team. Harte-Williams speaks to Emergency Medicine professionals at Brown annually, focusing on implementing and adopting a safety culture. Conducting these talks to various groups 12 times a year HarteWilliams is dedicated to promoting healthcare error reduction and patient safety through educating the healthcare community. Synensys is committed to improving healthcare safety and quality through innovative solutions and expert guidance. The company empowers healthcare professionals with the knowledge and tools needed to provide the highest standard of care.
