Anesthesia Guidebook

← Anesthesia Guidebook13 Apr 2025 · 46 min

#117 – An Intro to Systems Thinking and High Reliability Organizations

#117 – An Intro to Systems Thinking and High Reliability Organizations13 Apr 202546 min

Yo! This episode introduces the concepts of systems thinking and high reliability organizations. It’s the first part in a 3 part series. Part 2 is gonna dive into resilience engineering and safety differently. Part 3 is all about psychological safety and just culture.

These 3 shows unpack crucial intel for front-line providers, equipping them to understand their roles and how to develop their clinical impact. It’s also for organizational leaders and practice managers and will help you think about how to design better systems and support your team so they can thrive.

Systems thinking is the process of zooming out beyond simple cause-and-effect understanding (i.e. linear causality models) of how errors happen. It encourages people to consider the complexity of their environments and the power of leveraging changes in your processes and systems.

In this episode we cover:

Learning organizations and their 5 characteristics:

Personal mastery

Mental models

Shared vision

Team learning

Systems thinking

High reliability organizations and their characteristics

Preoccupation with failure