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Health safety: Pediatric hospitals borrow a page from the airline industry to improve patient safety,

Filed Under (Health & Fitness) by health man on 13-11-2009

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Author: Anonymous
Source: free-articles

OVERLAND PARK, KS February 14, 2004–Children’s hospitals involved in the Child Health Accountability Initiative (CHAI) are implementing avionics industry best practices as they develop new processes for intra-hospital transport of pediatric patients. Physiological differences and a reduced ability to advocate for themselves make pediatric patients, health safety, particularly vulnerable when they’re transferred from one area of the hospital to another, a time when effective communication is critical.

The project will commence in phases, with 14 hospitals collecting error data before and after the year-long endeavor. The CHAI project focuses on ensuring that the information handed over at the time of the transfer accurately reflects the condition of the patient said Kim Streitenberger, RN, a quality analyst at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario, who champions the project with colleagues Anne Matlow, M.D. and Ronald Laxer, M.D. Our goal is to make sure that the right people have access to the right information at the right time,” added Streitenberger, health safety, .

As a kick-off, CHAI representatives convened a panel of aviation experts with experience in human factors engineering and safety, specifically in high-risk organizations such as the Air Force and the Air National Guard. The objective was to glean cognitive tools and strategies to change behavior and enhance patient safety at critical points of the intra-hospital process.

Spence Byrum, a human factors consultant, health safety, for pilots and fight crews, says the parallels between aviation and health care are significant.

Both industries are training and education intensive, teamwork dependent, time constrained, closely scrutinized and highly stressful.

In health care, as in avionics, people question how professionals with extensive training and experience can under-perform. He attributes it to the human factor and says one proven method for improvement is Crew Resource Management (CRM), or maximizing mission effectiveness through the utilization of all available resources. CRM training is designed to produce crew members who consistently manage distractions, use sound judgment, make quality decisions and employ all required resources under stressful conditions in a time constrained environment.

Through CRM, errors are reduced by increasing standardization, improving the team’s shared mental model with better pre-procedure briefs, and by decreasing the margin for error with cross checks and challenge. CHAI hospitals are developing strategies for implementing all of these, including teaching staff how and when to challenge a doctor or other superior if they feel an error is being made. The CHAI team is also considering simulation as a training tool and another step toward creating high reliability organizations, defined as organizations that have fewer than normal accidents.

Next steps in the project include baseline data collection and a comprehensive review of current policies and procedures at each of the hospitals, then deployment of a blend of best practices from both the hospitals and the airline industry.

CHAI is a multi-hospital improvement collaborative of children’s hospitals. Its goals are to create new knowledge in quality and safety in pediatrics with initiatives focused on creating error-free children’s hospitals. Currently 14 children’s hospitals participate in the collaborative.

The group’s efforts in medication error reduction and pediatric patient safety were cited as examples of special population patient safety initiatives in the November 20, 2003 Institute of Medicine report Patient Safety: Achieving a New Standard for Care. In preparation for the November 20 Webcast announcing the new IOM report, Paul Tang, M.D. chief medical information officer, Palo Alto Medical Foundation, and chairman for the IOM Data Standards for Patient Safety committee, said, “When it comes to safety, the health care industry needs to borrow a page from the airline industry.

Dr. Tang explained pilots have instantaneous access to the data they need on weather conditions and mechanical functions to make informed decisions about navigation, delays, and midcourse corrections. When accidents or near misses occur, the industry can analyze these events, and the resulting information can be used to prevent future errors. In health care, no such universal information system exists.

CHAI is an initiative of the Child Health Corporation of American (CHCA).

CHCA is a business alliance of 41 of North America’s leading children’s hospitals that provides a range of products and services designed to reduce costs, increase revenue and enhance the competitive position of children’s hospitals. CHCA represents more than 20,000 physicians, 98,000 employees,, health safety, $11 billion in revenue and $1.8 billion in overall medical/surgical and pharmaceutical products.

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