Stop the Line for Patient Safety Initiative
“Stop the Line” is a VA-wide initiative that empowers VHA employees to speak up immediately if they see a risk to patient safety. Launched in 2013, this awareness campaign encourages employees to report behaviors, action, or inaction that might result in errors or patient harm. The initiative also makes clear that—in reporting these concerns to team members, supervisors, and VA leadership— employees will be protected from retribution.
At the core of the initiative is an educational video developed by the Risk Management Program, Office of Quality Safety and Value in partnership with the Employee Educational System. During the video, VHA employees are introduced to a tool called “the 3Ws©”: Say what you see; Say what you are concerned about; and, Say what you want to happen to keep things safe. To reinforce the importance of using this tool, VHA employees—from clinical staff such as nurses and doctors to administrative staff such as food service workers and environmental management --explain how it’s everyone’s responsibility to ensure patient safety. The VA Secretary also appears in the video, encouraging VHA employees to help keep Veteran patients safe.
“Stop the Line for Patient Safety” supports the VA’s Blueprint for Excellence by encouraging proactive, personalized, patient-driven care in an environment that makes Veteran and employee safety and well-being a priority.
Click here to read how VA employees at the Cincinnati VA Medical Center “Stopped the Line” to ensure patient safety.
