Holy Cross Health received the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines® Target Stroke Honor Roll Elite Silver Plus, Target Stroke: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll and Advanced Therapy quality achievement awards for its commitment to ensuring patients receive appropriate lifesaving treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines.
By Carol Katzell, BSN, RN
As a member of Trinity Health, one of the largest Catholic health care systems in the country, Holy Cross Health in Fort Lauderdale continues its journey toward becoming a High Reliability Organization (HRO), with an unwavering commitment to ZERO HARM for patients, colleagues and visitors.
Health care presents unique challenges for high reliability. Unlike other high-risk industries, health care involves a dynamic interplay between providers and patients, each with complex needs and unpredictable conditions. From managing severe sepsis and cardiac arrests to preventing falls and handling patients with multiple comorbidities, hospitals must respond in real time to evolving situations. This complexity demands a robust, adaptive safety system.
At Holy Cross Health, safety is a core value. Our culture of safety is built on transparency, accountability, psychological safety and continuous improvement. We measure our progress through safety metrics that guide our efforts and reinforce our commitment to excellence. Across our organization, we pride ourselves on delivering patient-centered care and shared decision making with our patients and care teams.
In 2025, Holy Cross Health was recognized by U.S. News & World Report as one of the Best Hospitals in six specialties: Colon Cancer Surgery, Heart Failure, Hip Fracture, Hip Replacement, Knee Replacement and Pacemaker Implantation. Additionally, we received the new American Heart Association’s Commitment to Quality Award, one of only 158 hospitals nationwide to earn this distinction for multi-disciplinary quality improvement.
“Our team’s dedication to treating the whole patient, not just the condition, is what sets us apart,” said Pierre Monice, President & CEO of Holy Cross Health. “We are focused on continuous improvement and delivering the highest-quality care across every department.”
Holy Cross Health’s safety program, TogetherSafe, reflects our collective responsibility to protect one another. Key elements of TogetherSafe include:
- Foundations of Safety Training: All colleagues receive training on safety principles, error prevention and high-reliability behaviors.
- Event Learning: Conduct Root Cause and Causal Analyses, debriefings and share national best practices.
- Near Miss Reporting: Celebrate and investigate near misses to proactively prevent harm.
- Specialty Programs: Sharps Safety and Fall Prevention programs are supported by Safety Champions who lead prevalence rounds and promote best practices.
Infection prevention is a shared responsibility at Holy Cross Health and the organization recently achieved 226 consecutive days without a colon surgical site infection, and some nursing units have surpassed 1,000 days without a hospital-acquired infection.
“These milestones are only possible through the dedication of our entire health care team,” said Debbie Lambrinos, MSN, RN, Director of Quality Management and Infection Control.
The Holy Cross team also leverages Lean Six Sigma tools like Kaizen, fishbone diagrams and the “5 Whys” to identify root causes and drive rapid process improvements. The Performance Excellence team plays a vital role in facilitating these efforts.
At the heart of Holy Cross Health’s safety culture is the “zero mindset,” a belief that zero harm is not just a goal, but a way of thinking. As Vince Lombardi once said, “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.”
Carol Katzell is Patient Safety Officer, Risk Management at Holy Cross Health.
