Patient Safety

• Using key phrases in malnutrition assessment to catch the attention of physicians
• Bolding their recommendations in notes to doctors
• Speaking directly to physicians about potentially malnourished patients

What can your team do to improve cooperation between physicians and other members of the care team?

• Coordinating transport times with other departments, and ensuring labs and meds are ready
• Ordering new, wider and more accessible chairs to make it easier to move patients
• Creating a new and dedicated transporter position to faciliate trips

What can your team do to work effectively with other teams? What else could your team do to better understand patients' needs? 

• Pairing a nurse with a buddy to help with patient response
• Designating backups to the buddies
• Communicating with the appropriate nurse the patient’s needs

What can your team do to allocate staff time and attention effectively and strategically? 

• Using an evaluation checklist to determine whether the catheter is medically necessary and properly secured
• Re-educating registered nurses and certified nursing assistants on catheter use and how to minimize factors that cause bladder infections
• Encouraging physicians to refrain from administering a catheter when it wasn’t necessary and to take catheters out at the earliest opportunity

What can your team do to encourage each other to examine procedures and alter if necessary?

• Speaking up immediately and “stopping the line” if a radiologic technologist encounters any deviation from workflow or a risk to patient safety.
• Filling out a simple, accessible form which the UBT then uses to address the issue that arose.

What can your team do to create a culture of Speaking Up in your department? What else could your team do to ensure follow up after a safety incident?

• Creating a wait list for patients who need to schedule surgeries
• Assigning a full-time employee to manage the wait list
• Using openings in the schedule to squeeze in emergency patients

What can your team do to improve patient satisfaction and efficiencies in your department? What else could your team do to relieve scheduling backlogs?

• Treating every patient as a fall risk and ensuring each patient is accompanied
• Installing bed alarms to let staff know when a patient was trying to sit up
• Rounding on patients hourly to get them out of bed and into the bathroom safely

What can your team do to reduce slips, trips and falls in your area? What else could your team do to create a culture of safety?

• Using signs as a visual reminder to nurses and other staff to lift and transport patients safely
• Communicating face-to-face and at huddles about patient-lifting equipment and procedures

What can your team do to remind each other to use patient-lifting procedures? What else could your team do to prevent injuries when lifting or transporting patients?

• Posting calendar of patient falls in the department to increase visibility of the issue
• Huddling daily and including a safety briefing
• Educating patients about the precautions they can take when they need to get out of bed

What can your team do to focus on creating a culture of safety? 

• Researching and trying different breathing equipment
• Improving communication among team members and other health care workers, such as wound nurses
• Focusing on fixing problems, not blaming each other

What can your team do to increase awareness of how equipment can impact patient care?