Stephen Swensen

A New Direction

"We want to be so distant from the rest of the pack that competition is irrelevant."

Currently Steve is transitioning out of his department chairmanship to become director of quality and safety for the entire nationwide network of Mayo-owned institutions.

The challenge, he says, is to become the nation’s model for performance and excellence by developing a systems approach that eliminates needless injuries and deaths caused by human error. “Mayo has the lowest standardized mortality rate in the U.S. But even from that position of strength,” says Steve, “we know that we are not as good as we can be. We want to be so distant from the rest of the pack that competition is irrelevant.”

To illustrate his mission, Steve points out that 98,000 Americans die in hospitals each year as the result of medical errors. That’s more than 300 people each day. It’s like crashing a 747 airplane every day—needlessly. “So it’s my job to put systems in place that stop those planes from crashing. Because even though Mayo has the lowest standardized mortality rate, we still have people on those planes.” In the new role, Steve will be employing industrial engineering techniques like those found in nuclear power plants or on an aircraft carrier to build teamwork and cohesion throughout the Mayo system. “Mayo has made this a top priority,” he notes, “and I’m just honored to be involved.”