Newsletter
Are You on Solid Footing for Patient Safety?
Feb 29, 2016
Regardless of your specialty, or where you go to work each day, the structure for keeping your patients safe is built upon a few basic pillars:
- always keeping the patient’s needs in the foreground
- communication (including documentation)
- continuous systems improvement
- acknowledging and learning from mistakes
- peer support and training
The foundation underneath those pillars is the culture in which you and your colleagues practice. Below are a few questions you might ponder to ensure that your workplace foundation is rock solid.
- What are best practices for expressing safety concerns or “stopping the line”?
- How do we track consults/referrals through to follow up?
- How do we maximize safety during patient or information handoffs?
- Am I aware of our process for disclosing errors to patients and family members?
- How do I make sure that my patients understand me (and vice versa)?
- What are we doing to identify and address symptoms of burnout within our practice?
Thinking about these questions—and discussing them with your colleagues—should bolster your confidence that you and your patients are interacting under optimal circumstances. And if you do detect opportunities for improvement, that’s an ideal chance to tap into the risk management expertise and resources available within your organization or here at CRICO.
Additional Material
Latest News from CRICO
Get all your medmal and patient safety news here.
Utilization of Electronic Health Record Sex and Gender Demographic Fields: A Metadata and Mixed Methods Analysis
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This CRICO co-funded retroactive study published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association analyzed the records of patients 18 years of age or older in the Mass General Brigham health system with a first Legal Sex entry (registration requirement) between 2018 and 2022. The study was important because “Sex and gender demographic data are widely viewed as essential to providing culturally responsive gender affirming care and facilitating research and public health interventions.”
Establishing a Regional Registry for Neonatal Encephalopathy: Impact on Identification of Gaps in Practice
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CRICO Grants
Neonatal encephalopathy continues to be a significant risk for death and disability. To address this risk, regional guidelines were developed with the support of CRICO. A neonatal encephalopathy registry was also established. The aim of this study was to identify areas of variation in practice that could benefit from quality improvement projects.
Surgeon’s Coaching Techniques in the Surgical Coaching for Operative Performance Enhancement (SCOPE) Program
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CRICO Grants
CRICO-funded Surgical Coaching for Operative Performance Enhancement (SCOPE) was used to teach surgeons effective coaching techniques to guide peers.
The Safety of Outpatient Health Care
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Although most care occurs in the outpatient setting, knowledge of outpatient adverse events (AEs) remains limited. This study looks at adverse events in outpatient settings.