'Broken hospital windows': debating the theory of spreading disorder and its application to healthcare organizations. | AHRQ Patient Safety Network

'Broken hospital windows': debating the theory of spreading disorder and its application to healthcare organizations. | AHRQ Patient Safety Network

• Commentary
 
• Published March 2018

'Broken hospital windows': debating the theory of spreading disorder and its application to healthcare organizations.

Churruca K, Ellis LA, Braithwaite J. BMC Health Serv Res. 2018;18:201.

Unit-level dysfunction creates observable violations that, once normalized, can result in organizational failure. This article explains how applying the broken windows theory in health care can enable understanding of workarounds that may escalate from helpful adjustments in practice to a manifestation of conditions that contribute to patient harm.

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