As a Washington State Hospital Association member, your organization has access to the Northwest Safety and Quality Patient Safety Organization (NWSQ PSO), a federally listed Patient Safety Organization supporting hospitals/hospital care partners, including cancer programs, diagnostic, imaging services, laboratories, ancillary and support services and affiliated clinics across the continuum of care.
Membership in the NWSQ PSO is available at no cost to WSHA members and may include access to diverse clinical and operational safety services. Active leadership engagement helps integrate safety learning into everyday work and reinforces transparency across all care settings.
Participation in the NWSQ PSO provides a confidential, legally protected environment to learn from safety events and near misses. Rather than focusing on individual performance, PSO engagement strengthens systems, supports a safety culture and advances High Reliability principles, including:
- Preoccupation with failure
- Sensitivity to day‑to‑day operations
- Deference to expertise
- Commitment to continuous learning and improvement
This shared, system‑wide approach helps identify emerging risks, reduce preventable harm and keep patients and families at the center of safety efforts—wherever care is delivered.
PSO participation also supports alignment with CMS Patient Safety Structural Measure (PSSM) expectations for CY 2025, including leadership oversight of safety, organizational learning systems, proactive identification and mitigation of sentinel risks.
For more information, visit Northwest Safety and Quality PSO | Washington State Hospital Association or email: mailto:[email protected].