Patient Safety Leadership WalkRounds at Partners Healthcare: learning from implementation.

Background: Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) began Patient Safety Leadership WalkRounds in January 2001; its experience, along with that of three other Partner Healthcare hospitals, is reported. COLLECTING DATA ON WALKROUNDS: Data were obtained from interviews with patient safety personnel, WalkRounds scribes, and senior leaders.

Findings: A total of 233 one-hour WalkRounds during 28 months yielded 1,433 comments--30% related to equipment, 13% to communications, 7% to pharmacy, and 6% to workforce.