The AHRQ National Action Alliance Healthcare Safety Competencies Affinity Group provided a forum for identifying and exploring the patient and workforce safety competencies needed by our healthcare workforce to support the safety of healthcare delivery.
Environmental Scan, Resources, and Strategies
The National Action Alliance established the Healthcare Safety Competencies Affinity Group to help all healthcare team members—from board members and administrators to clinical and non-clinical team members—increase their capacity for providing safe healthcare. The Environmental Scan, Resources, and Strategies document (PDF, 577 KB) provides a summary of the current state of healthcare safety competencies and the gaps that exist. The environmental scan identified resources to support safety competencies from multiple professional societies, targeting all stages of the healthcare professional continuum, from trainees to experienced clinicians and leaders.
Over-Arching Safety Competency Areas and Associated Knowledge Themes
Culture of Learning and Safety- Individual and Organizational
Just Culture
Leadership and Governance for Safety
Psychological Safety
Shared Vision for Safety
Teamwork and Teaming
Transparency
Appropriate Standardization
Care Transitions/Handoff
Cognitive Bias
Communication Processes
Detecting and Mitigating Safety Risks
Disclosure
High Reliability
Human Factors Engineering (Human-Centered Design)
Individual Factors/Individual Failure Modes
Responding to Safety Events—Immediate Actions and Longer-Term/Systemic Follow-up
Safety Reporting
Situational Awareness
Systems Factors/System Failure Modes
Systems Thinking and Design
Change Management
Continuous Improvement Methodologies and Tools
Continuous Professional Development
Creating a Business Case for Safety
Evidence-Based Practices
Implementation Science
Leveraging Data and Analytics to Improve Safety
Measurement
Safe Clinical Practices (Discipline-Specific and Interprofessional)
Translating Research to Practice
Burnout
Co-Design
Fatigue
Improving Access to Care
Moral Injury
Patient Safety/Worker Safety Relationship and Continuum
Patient/Family Engagement
Patient-Centered Care
Post Harm Incident—Care for Providers
Promoting Well-Being
Reducing Outcomes Disparities
Shared Decision Making
Worker Safety
Workload Management
Strategies
The Healthcare Safety Competency Affinity Group, a coalition of leaders and organizations from across the industry committed to advancing safe healthcare, analyzed the current state of healthcare safety competencies. The group identified potential safety competency gaps as well as resources and strategies for healthcare organizations to consider when supporting safety science competencies in their workforce.
Cheryl Peterson, M.S.N., R.N., Vice President of Nursing Programs
American Nurses Association
Steve Singer, Ph.D., Vice President of Education and Outreach
Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education
Joan Stanley, Ph.D., N.P., FAAN, FAANP, Chief Academic Officer
American Association of Colleges of Nursing
Kevin B. Weiss, M.D., M.P.H., Chief Sponsoring Institutions and Clinical Learning Environments Officer
Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education
Federal Partners
Contributor
Organization
CAPT Amy Kolwaite, Ph.D., M.P.H., ARNP, Chief of Health Systems Strengthening, Resilience, and Training Branch, Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Edward E. Yackel, D.N.P., F.N.P.-C, FAANP, Executive Director, National Center for Patient Safety
Veterans Health Administration
National Action Alliance Facilitators
Contributor
Organization
Monika Haugstetter, M.H.A., M.S.N., R.N., CPHQ, Health Scientist Administrator, Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Jennifer Trallo Schreiber, M.S.N., M.B.A., R.N., CPPS, CPHQ, Principal Program Analyst
Internet Citation: Healthcare Safety Competencies Affinity Group. Content last reviewed May 2025. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. https://www.ahrq.gov/action-alliance/competencies-affinity-group/index.html
