Patient safety and quality are an ever-increasing concern to consumers, payers, providers, organizations, and governments. However, high reliability methods and science that can provide efficient and effective care have still not been totally implemented into our healthcare culture. Nurses, representing the majority of healthcare workers, are on the front line of the delivery and provision of safe and effective care and are ideally situated to drive the mission to achieve high reliability in healthcare. High Reliability Organizations: A Healthcare Handbook for Patient Safety & Quality presents practical examples of HRO principles in order to establish a system that detects and prevents errors from happening even in the most difficult, high risk conditions. Authors Cynthia Oster and Jane Braaten provide healthcare professionals with tools and best practices that will improve and enhance patient safety and quality outcomes. This book provides: An overview of HRO science as an organizing framework for quality and patient safety, practical applications of HRO science, focusing on quality and patient safety, knowledge and tools that can be applied to current quality and safety practices and real-world examples of HRO principles employed in a variety of patient care areas.