Comment by Friday Oct. 30 to enter the draw!
Good communication is good for health. October 26-30, 2015 is Canadian Patient Safety Week and this year patients and providers are encouraged to ASK. LISTEN. TALK.
This theme is applicable across the continuum of care in primary, acute, long term and home care settings, and is relevant to providers as well as clients, patients and residents.
Enter the draw!
VCH Quality & Safety is celebrating Canadian Patient Safety Week by inviting you to share how you use communication to improve patient safety, or your safety. Simply share your comment in the comment section below, and we’ll enter you into a draw for these prizes:
- VCH water bottle
- VCH umbrella
- VCH USB flash drive
- One of two Starbucks coffee cards
Comment before October 30 to be entered. Draw winners will be announced in the Nov. 5 edition of VCH News.
Find out more about Canadian Patient Safety Institute website.
LQ
Good communication with my home care patients/families ensures that there is understanding of what the plan of care is. Patients and their families will also be able to understand better, learn, and do their own self care to improve their health outcomes.
Stefanie
In Records, if another employee has misplaced something, let them know. It will be less likely to re-occur.
Wendy W
When leaving written notes and messages to colleagues/patients/staff/families, I go the extra distance to ensure there is no issue with legibility and I include as many details as possible (eg. date/time/quantity/where/who/etc) so that there is no confusion as to what is being communicated. I try to follow up verbally if possible and check for understanding when warranted.
Sviatlana Leuchuk
As RN, I find effective communication a key to patient safety. In my everyday work it needs to occur between the following parties:
1. RN and patient: checking patient identity upon admission, upon starting IV, consent, before starting procedure. I’ve had several patients grin and comment when I ask them to spell the name…but all it takes is just explanation of why we are doing it and no patient will mind spelling his/her name an extra time.
2. RN and other members of healthcare team (for report, timeout)
3. for quality improvement (staff meetings, discussions among other RNs and with the manager).
Chris Stitt
illegible and semi-legible orders happen frequently and fully computerized order entry is still years away for most in VCH. The correct response (and only response that is safe for the patient and the health care workers involved) is to seek clarity directly with the person who wrote the order. The incorrect and dangerous response is to guess, or gather an informal group to guess. If the prescriber is not available then the on-call physician/provider covering should be contacted for a new order.
I know I am guilty of writing illegible orders at times. I will continue to try to do better. But I would much rather be questioned than have someone guess and possibly make a mistake leading to an adverse patient outcome.
Jacqueline Per
Hi Chris,
First thanks for submitting and for your honesty…. none of us are perfect but that self reflection and focused action to address the things we could do better is critical. Your post really resonated for me as I see so many misunderstandings and yes unfortunately adverse events that occur due to “guesses” by well meaning clinicians. I can’t imagine that any clinician would object to being asked for clarity but I really appreciate you stating that outright. So a call to all of us who read orders or assessments etc. and think…Hmmm??? you have permission to ask – your patient expects it, physicians, NP’s, pharmacists, dentists et al depend on it. Thanks Chris!!!
CV
Admin staff on my floor use huddles bi weekly or monthly to make sure everyone is up to date on new processes or procedures. Also talking to eachother frequently to make sure we are all on the same page or to see if anyone needs help in their district so no client falls through the cracks.
Jacqueline Per
Hi CV – thanks for sharing the work you and your team undertake! We know how critical communication is and working in a 24/7/365 world makes that challenging. Things are always coming up so it’s great to see how you prioritize the care and safety of patients with everything else that hits your desk everyday! Knowing your colleague is there to help supports us all to do our best every day. Thanks!
KA
With regards to staff safety, our supervisors really encourage us to bring up any accidents, near misses and safety concerns to them immediately as well as during our monthly team meetings for open discussion, so that we could brainstorm about any improvements to be made in order to avoid future incidents. Although our workplace has a low risk in seeing patients and family members with aggressive behaviour, all of our staff received a Code White training. In the training, we stressed that listening and communicating to the aggressive client is of utmost importance. Listening to the client’s concerns and effectively communicating with them help calm the client down and protect the safety of other clients and staff in the vicinity.
Jody Sydor Jones
Hi Karen,
I agree with you. I think that a culture of reporting accidents and near misses is a good culture to have: it shows that people have enough trust in each other (and themselves) to be able to speak openly and constructively about potential risks and — more to the point — to figure out how those risks can be mitigated going forward.
It’s also so true, like you said, that the simple act of listening is critical. Think of the number of times in our daily lives that we feel our frustration mount when we’re not acknowledged or listened to, even if it is simply happening as a result of being in a long queue for groceries or dealing with a phone provider or some such thing. And in health care, it’s even more critical, as a means to ensuring the best quality of care and patient safety.
Thanks for sharing your perspective!
GHO
– Open communication: See something. Say something. Via email; in person; by telephone; or written mail.
– Occupational Health and Safety Meetings where representatives from different departments and unions come together to discuss what we can improve on regarding our staff and patient safety.
– Monthly Team Meetings where staff in the same department share what they feel uncomfortable with or what patients told them and we can all come up with solutions as a whole.
All these ways of communicating brings people together. They minimize misunderstanding and clarify things. We are not mindreaders, speak up and bring things to your immediate supervisors’ attention so things can be taken care of as needed.
Pat van Schaik
Working in administration, I feel communication is vital for the good health of our community. We try to keep our signage current, accurate and appealing. We have patient feedback forms available on all units and these are given with their discharge package.
When dealing with patient complaints, I have learned to listen and hear what has upset them and give them their power as members of our community to have their complaints acted upon in a prompt manner.
Jody Sydor Jones
Hi Pat,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, from the administration team’s perspective. I think you’re exactly right in stating that you do indeed give power to our community members, patients and clients, through the simple, respectful act of listening and acknowledging their complaint. And it’s like you said, not just listening, but *hearing* what they say and giving them a pathway towards resolution. It’s a shared responsibility for all of us, and as I’m sure you’ve experienced, that communication interaction often starts with you in the ‘front office’ of the hospital or care facility.
It think this is a good reminder for all of us who work on units, in departments, or around the facility, to ensure that you also have the most up to date information so you feel well supported in the work you do.
It’s great that you also look out for the signs and notices on the site…Doesn’t it drive you crazy to find signs that are a year or two out of date (or have no date at all for a “Workshop on Monday, come one come all!” 🙂
SG
Signage is great and we use it at our facility, but there’s nothing like face-to-face communication when possible. We provide opportunities for staff and residents/families to raise safety concerns through:
1. daily Huddles in each unit
2. monthly Unit meetings
3. monthly OH&S meetings
4. Family Council
5. Resident Council
In addition, we are embarking on a formal, transparent Resident Safety process where monthly audits are conducted, the results of which will be shared with staff and residents/families through our Newsletters.
Karen M.
At my worksite, we take the following actions that engage staff and patients in patient safety.
• We ask clients and families to provide feedback via feedback forms we always have readily available at the reception counter. Monthly safety meetings are also held to ask staff to provide feedback on client and staff safety.
• We listen to any safety concerns brought up by clients/families/staff via the written feedback forms, phone/email/in-person communication, or open discussion at team meetings.
• We talk about the feedback and concerns that were received, discuss and come up with solutions, then bring the solutions back to the clients/families/staff via meetings, appointments, phone/email/in-person communication, and signage posted around the clinic.
Jody Sydor Jones
Hi Karen,
I really like the structured approach to feedback you’re describing. I especially like the last point about bringing the conversation back around, to include the client/patient/family. Put in their shoes, I would really want to know that my comments or feedback resulted in a discernable difference. I don’t think it’s always easy to complete this loop and sometimes it opens us up to uncomfortable further conversations, especially if we haven’t been able to create the wholesale change that would be ideal (from the perspective of the patient/client/family, or indeed from the staff or physician perspective too).
But I really do believe that this completion of the loop is so important. When we held a forum a couple of years ago through VCH’s Community Engagement Advisory Network (CEAN), we asked 60 members of the public, including patients and family members, what they would describe as “quality” in healthcare. The resounding response was that everything we do needs to be patient-centred, especially including the way in which we communicate with patients/clients and families and include them in a genuine 2-way participatory approach. You can find that report here in case you’d like to read more: http://www.vch.ca/get-involved/community-engagement/community-engagement-reports/quality-improvement/quality-improvement
BJH
Ask for clarifications when orders are unclear or do not make sense.
Work collaboratively with colleagues.
Let others know when a patient is unstable and assistance may be or is required.