Marian Savage of Roper St. Francis Healthcare Wins 2024 Drive to Zero Harm Leadership Award
(Columbia, South Carolina – December 11, 2024) The South Carolina Hospital Association (SCHA) is pleased to announce that Marian Savage, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, CPHQ, PMP, has won the 2024 Drive to Zero Harm Leadership Award. The award is presented each year to a South Carolina hospital leader who demonstrates a track record of excellence in creating sustainable cultures of safety throughout their healthcare system.
Savage has served as the Vice President of Quality & Patient Experience at Roper St. Francis Healthcare (RSFH) in Charleston, SC, since 2021, where she is responsible for the organization’s overall safety program, which includes the safety of the system’s patients and teammates. Since then, she has grown the not-for-profit healthcare system’s culture of safety and high reliability through a number of ambitious initiatives, including the long-time “Safety is Excellence” training initiative and the implementation of a shared “universal safety skills” terminology that fosters better communication and increased awareness of safety and high reliability among the care team.
Savage was also instrumental in the system-wide development of the eight Chasing Zero interdisciplinary teams, with a goal of reducing harm for Lowcountry patients. The teams focus on hospital-acquired pressure injuries, hospital-acquired infections, readmissions, serious safety events and more.
Since implementing these teams in 2021, the system has seen accomplishments, such as:
Over 75 percent reduction in hospital-acquired infections
Over 60 percent reduction in serious safety events
Over 20 percent reduction in hospital-acquired pressure injuries
10 percent reduction in needlesticks
Savage is also an active member of Roper St. Francis Healthcare leadership team, where leaders meet immediately after a workplace violence event or other serious outcome, to develop ways to support teammates and prevent future instances.
In her half decade of service to the facility, Savage has been fully committed to developing and executing a highly reliable plan that keeps the hospital’s workforce and patients safe. Her belief and dogged pursuit of the goal of “Zero Harm” makes her a true champion of patients and caregivers alike. SCHA could not be prouder to name her the 2024 Drive to Zero Harm Leadership Award winner.
Media Contact: Kyle Petersen
Phone: 803.744.3557
Email: kpetersen@scha.org
About the SC Zero Harm Program
South Carolina’s Zero Harm program was created by the South Carolina Hospital Association (SCHA) in collaboration with The Duke Endowment and The Joint Commission Center for Transforming Health to support statewide efforts to create a culture of high reliability and reduce harm in our healthcare facilities. Now in its tenth year, the program currently receives ongoing support from BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina and has expanded its clinical focus to celebrate patient safety leadership and commitment to process improvement in broader areas of harm, including workplace violence and mental health.
About the South Carolina Hospital Association
South Carolina’s Zero Harm program was created by the South Carolina Hospital Association (SCHA) in collaboration with The Duke Endowment and The Joint Commission Center for Transforming Health to support statewide efforts to create a culture of high reliability and reduce harm in our healthcare facilities. Now in its tenth year, the program currently receives ongoing support from BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina and has expanded outside of its clinical focus to touch on other major priority areas like disparities and workplace violence.
About Roper St. Francis Healthcare
As a not-for-profit healthcare system, Roper St. Francis Healthcare chooses purpose over profits by putting extra money back into the system to help meet the health needs of the Charleston community. The healthcare system features four flagship hospitals: Roper Hospital, Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital, Roper St. Francis Mount Pleasant Hospital and Roper St. Francis Berkeley Hospital. In an emergency, the healthcare system offers six strategically placed emergency departments. With nearly 7,000 teammates, Roper St. Francis Healthcare is the Lowcountry’s largest private employer with more than 1,000 doctors representing almost every medical specialty. The system has nearly 700 beds and more than 120 facilities and services across four counties.