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Faculty

Daniel Burke

MBA, NRP
EMS Director
The Center for Patient Safety

Dan, who lives near Washington DC, is the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Director at The Center for Patient Safety. As a Nationally Registered Paramedic, he has over a decade of experience in EMS operational leadership, policy, quality, public health, and regulation. Dan has held leadership and administrative roles a variety of EMS agencies with a focus on systems improvement from small volunteer organizations, an interfacility critical care transport organization, municipal fire and EMS departments, and prior to coming to CPS, he served as the State EMS Director for Washington DC. He has also served in numerous volunteer capacities including on the executive board of his county volunteer firefighter's association and as the Chief of his hometown ambulance service near Baltimore, Maryland.

2026 Sessions

Why Your Agency Should Adopt Collaborative High Reliability: The Next Step for Just Culture

Yes, I understand

Just Culture revolutionized how EMS organizations view accountability — but it's no longer enough by itself. Agencies that want to meaningfully reduce preventable harm, strengthen clinician trust, and build true operational resilience must take the next step: adopting Collaborative High Reliability (CHR). CHR combines the science of high-reliability operations with the fairness and transparency of Just Culture, creating a practical, agency-wide model for consistent safety improvement. In a profession defined by dynamic environments, fragmented communication, and high-stakes decision-making, EMS must elevate from reactive error management to a proactive, system-level approach to risk.

This presentation breaks down how CHR works, why it matters, and what EMS leaders must do to implement it. Attendees will learn how leadership alignment, event-learning systems, safety culture surveys, PSO protections, and team-based problem-solving anchor the CHR model. Through concrete examples, the session demonstrates how CHR empowers frontline clinicians, improves reporting, and turns every event into an opportunity for improvement. Participants will leave understanding not only why to adopt CHR — but exactly how to begin the transformation in their own agency.

Presenter (1 Presenter)

Friday, October 02 1:00–2:00 PM
Room W224 C/D
Leadership and Management
Faculty

Daniel Burke

MBA, NRP
EMS Director
The Center for Patient Safety

Dan, who lives near Washington DC, is the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Director at The Center for Patient Safety. As a Nationally Registered Paramedic, he has over a decade of experience in EMS operational leadership, policy, quality, public health, and regulation. Dan has held leadership and administrative roles a variety of EMS agencies with a focus on systems improvement from small volunteer organizations, an interfacility critical care transport organization, municipal fire and EMS departments, and prior to coming to CPS, he served as the State EMS Director for Washington DC. He has also served in numerous volunteer capacities including on the executive board of his county volunteer firefighter's association and as the Chief of his hometown ambulance service near Baltimore, Maryland.
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