High Reliability Organizing for (HRO) Disasters – Disaster Ecology and the Color of Noise

Abstract

The frequencies of stochastic noise inherent to the environment can be described as colors. The various colors of noise refer to the disruptive potential of stochastic energy within the environment and its characteristics. The meaning of the type of noise lies in the unpredictability of events and the 'forcing functions' of energy. That is the strength of the environment to force a system or population to respond. For human activity, the color types correlate to problem characteristics such as leadership-line authority coupling, well-structured, ill-structured, and embedded problems. When the noise color changes, forcing functions and the types of problems also change, increasing characteristics necessary for adaptation or altering characteristics in unexpected ways through relaxed selection. The noise process applies equally to nursing homes, NICUs, and public safety and is independent of timescale or magnitude. We need not characterize normal environmental variation differently from catastrophes.

Disaster Series: Prolonged Improvisation during Hurricanes – High Reliability Organizing in the NICU

“…"Collecting more information reduces uncertainty and measured variance, much like creating pieces for a puzzle that can be completed (31). The characteristic of limited variance creates white noise environments that are stable over decades (2,28 (30)). Collecting more information reduces uncertainty and measured variance, much like creating pieces for a puzzle that can be completed (31).…”

“…Collecting more information reduces uncertainty and measured variance, much like creating pieces for a puzzle that can be completed (31). The characteristic of limited variance creates white noise environments that are stable over decades (2,28).…”

“…Routine, adaptive operations can suffice for disaster responses. We do not need to make any special distinction between normal environmental variation and catastrophes; they are the same thing experienced at different scales (2,3). Operators in dangerous contexts seek the necessary capabilities for likely threats, particularly capabilities they can generalize to unforeseen threats or that will extend operations into novel situations (4).…”

“…Euclidean structure provides the necessary structure and operations for plans and planning. However, the resulting rigidity displays fragility within environmental forcing functions (2). The genius of these effective neonatal operators during hurricanes was their use of topological relations for adaptation to hurricane forcing functions.…”

Safety Competency

“…The delivery of health care is complex, and many factors intersect to create a multilayer system with multiple opportunities for error 1,7,8. These factors include multiple provider teams across transitions of care, polypharmacy, multiple comorbid conditions, rapidly evolving technology, approval of new medications and treatments, and an environment laden with interruptions and distractions 9. Given the complexity of care, there was a rapid integration of systems safety science education in health care; this was a step toward evolving into a high-reliability organization.…”