From Recall to Renewal: How Standardized Safety Training and Certification Transformed One Organization

Across the health care industry, critical moments can surface hidden vulnerabilities in safety systems. For one major medical device company, Philips Healthcare, a Class I recall of ventilators by the US Food and Drug Administration served as such an inflection point. Rather than approaching the event solely as a compliance challenge, the company’s leaders viewed it as an urgent opportunity to rebuild and strengthen its safety culture.

Leadership restructured the medical safety function, established clear governance, and increased enterprise‑wide accountability — all aligned with Safer Together: A National Action Plan to Advance Patient Safety, which emphasizes leadership engagement and systems‑based safety.

One of the most significant changes was the decision to equip every member of the global medical safety team with a standardized foundation in patient safety science.

Why Training and Certification Matter After an Incident

The organization already employed experienced clinicians, engineers, and risk managers. But leaders recognized a common challenge across health care: expertise does not automatically translate into patient safety competency. They identified the need for a consistent, formal foundation in patient safety science. The Certified Professional in Patient Safety (CPPS)™ credential from IHI filled that gap.

The CPPS credential offered:

• A shared language for communicating about safety risks, systems failures, and improvement strategies
• A standard set of competencies grounded in human factors, risk management, and quality science
• A global reference point, supporting consistency across teams in multiple countries
• A clear professional expectation, reinforcing that safety is not an informal skill but a discipline
• A stronger sense of professional identity, reinforcing patient safety as a distinct domain

Dr. Karen Phillips, MD, FCA, MBA, CPPS, Global Head of Medical Safety at Philips, explained that patient safety requires more than clinical experience: “Medical Safety is the combination of regulatory requirements, human factors, and risk management. CPPS helps draw a clear line between quality and risk management and the distinct science of patient safety.”

For organizations rebuilding after an incident, this kind of shared foundation helps ensure teams are aligned — both technically and culturally — on what safety means and how it is practiced.

Leadership Commitment as a Driver of Culture Change

Training alone does not create safety. But visible, sustained leadership commitment signals to employees that safety is a strategic priority, not an add-on. After arriving at Philips, Dr. Phillips introduced initiatives including:

• A patient safety curriculum combining CPPS principles, human factors engineering, and proactive risk methods
• A maturity model to assess how deeply safety practices are embedded in each business unit
• A cross‑functional safety board to elevate issues and accelerate resolution
• Baseline safety training for all employees, ensuring even non‑clinical teams understand their role in identifying and addressing risk and preventing harm

These steps created consistency in the practice of medical safety: regardless of business unit, the medical safety team now operates with a unified approach with their cross-functional teams as they identify risks, mitigate harm, and design safer products.

The Benefits of a Shared Safety Language Across an Enterprise

One of the most powerful outcomes reported by the company is the impact of a common safety framework. CPPS certification helped:

• Reduce variation in how teams interpret safety concepts
• Strengthen collaboration across engineering, clinical, regulatory, risk, and design
• Enhance the clarity and accuracy of safety documentation
• Support more consistent global decision‑making
• Reinforce that patient safety is not a department but a professional standard

“CPPS provides a common source of truth for my team. It makes us consistent, accurate, and aligned,” commented Dr. Phillips.

A Model Other Organizations Can Adapt

While this approach emerged within one medical device company, the lessons are broadly applicable across health care:

• Organizations recovering from a safety incident can use training and certification to build competency, rebuild trust, and reinforce shared expectations. 
• Leaders who champion safety — and invest in the professional development of their teams — set a tone that accelerates cultural change.
• A common language for safety enables better communication, collaboration, and decision‑making across complex systems.

The CPPS credential is not simply a professional certification; it can serve as a structural tool for embedding safety into daily practice and sustaining long-term culture change.

Learn more about the Certified Professional in Patient Safety (CPPS) and how it can strengthen safety culture in your organization.

Sarah Blossom, ICE-CCP, is the Director of Certification at IHI, and Patricia McGaffigan, RN, MS, CPPS, CPHFH, CPAFH, is President of the Certification Board for Professionals in Patient Safety (CBPPS), and Senior Advisor for Safety at IHI.

Photo by Jacob Wackerhausen

Editor’s Note: The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) does not endorse specific companies, products, or services. References to organizations in this blog are for educational purposes only and reflect how those organizations have chosen to use IHI certification programs internally. Inclusion does not imply endorsement, recommendation, or validation of any products, services, or business practices.

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