Multidisciplinary group provides 'safe passage'
At Clarian West Hospital in Indianapolis, the ED participates in a multidisciplinary group that processes all safety issues. Called the Safe Passage Committee, it is led by the vice president of quality and safety.
"Frontline staff [members] attend the meetings and report back to leadership," notes India Owens, RN, director of emergency services. Issues can be brought forward by staff or leadership. They are discussed, and an approach is decided upon. Meeting minutes are distributed throughout hospital and also are available to any staff member online.
Many times, she notes, the decisions involve changing or creating a policy. At Clarian West, however, processes are part of the safety policies. "For example, in the ED, we have a policy for determining if a pregnant patient who presents should be sent to OB or stay in the ED," Owens explains. "We have an algorithm embedded in the policy that outlines the steps a staff member goes through to make that determination — the key decision points." The advantage to this approach is that ED staff members don't have to go to two places (policies and processes) to find out what to do, she says.
Having all safety issues go through the committee ensures that safety practices unfold the same way in the ED as they do in other departments, Owens notes. Consider a hypothetical example in which there are three needlesticks in the ED related to a new product, she says. "It would go to that committee, and the vice president of quality and safety could make the decision to pull the product and communicate it to the entire hospital," Owens says. "The product would be pulled, and we'd revert to a prior product."
However, she adds, the process doesn't stop there. At the next committee meeting, the group would discuss whether this was truly a product failure or whether there was another factor involved. "Even if the product was pulled, we'd to try to figure out the root cause," Owens explains. "Maybe we did not educate the nurses well enough, or maybe the nurses were not used to the way the product was designed. We never just pull a product."
At Clarian West Hospital in Indianapolis, the ED participates in a multidisciplinary group that processes all safety issues.You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
- Award-winning Medical Content
- Latest Advances & Development in Medicine
- Unbiased Content