TTP

• 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?

• Implementing a quiet zone to allow staff to better concentrate
• Shifting work schedules so more staff are available during peak hours
• Communicating one on one with pharmacy staff about changes being made and why, and what data show

What can your team do to effectively respond to workflow and target changes? What else could your team do to meet targeted goals?

• 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?

• Studying what other labs were doing and researching the latest technology
• Collaborating on the purchase of new equipment and gaining support to fast-track the installation
• Cross-training staff on use of new equipment and departmental processes

What can your team do to be more collaborative with departments you frequently work with? What else could your team do to cross-train staff?

• 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? 

• Giving injections in the exam room, rather than the injection clinic
• Limiting the choice for physicians to two versions of the same vaccine to choose from—instead of several
• Huddling among medical assistants and physicians once or twice a day to determine which of their incoming patients need vaccines. Medical assistants then have the shots ready for those patients

• Starting with a truly small test of change: one shift on one day
• Creating a flow sheet to see how long it took for doctors’ orders on walking with patients to be met
• Standardizing a mobility protocol for all patients

What can your team do with a small test of change? What else could your team do to make Kaiser Permanente the best place to work and receive care?

• Designating and training a HealthConnect super-user on the team
• Coaching and mentoring all team members on using the prompts in HealthConnect to urge patients to agree to sceenings and book appointments
• Tracking how often staff members remind patients to get screenings

What can your team do to ensure that members and patients get their necessary screenings? What else could your team do to coach and mentor HeatlthConnect super-users?

• Coming together from various departments (orthopedics, physical therapy, pharmacy) to teach a class for patients about what to expect before, during and after surgery
• Rounding on patients in interdisciplinary teams
• Making discharge calls and leveraging home health nurses as the bridge between hospital and home

What can your team do to better coordinate with other departments to improve patient care? What else could your team do to help everyone adapt to change in the workplace?