Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital implements patient safety initiative

ALBANY — Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital has borrowed something from the automotive industry to help address issues related to patient safety.

The Stop the Line for Patient Safety initiative has been kicked off, both to enhance patient safety and to empower staff to speak up and communicate concerns to other employees, regardless of their position.

In cases where an imminent or significant threat to safety is perceived, the practice is to “stop” and address the problem and then to submit a report on the incident so that safety concerns can be tracked over time.

It is similar to an automotive assembly line, in which any worker can stop the line and identify a threat. Once the threat is identified, the line does not start up again until the problem is fixed.

The initiative was created by the hospital’s Patient Safety Committee, and spearheaded by Dr. Ifechukwude Nwadei. It was endorsed by the Quality Council and the Medical Executive Committee at Phoebe.

It is meant to foster a “Culture of Safety” so that everyone is a stakeholder in patient safety, avoidable patient harm is eliminated and the safest possible health care environment is created.

“I envision that a staff member will know a staff risk, say ‘stop’ and communicate a risk so it can be addressed,” Nwadei said.

Officials said similar initiatives have demonstrated proven results on patient safety at institutions such as Virginia Mason Medical Center, Washington University and Georgetown University.

“Stop the Line” has been communicated to the physicians, and officials said they were supportive overall. There is a system in place to recognize employees who speak up, because it can be intimidating for a nurse to correct a doctor or for an aide to correct a nurse.

Such fear is understandable, given the culture at hospitals. Culture change is not expected to take place overnight.

“I wouldn’t have a problem personally, but I know some physicians who would,” said Dr. Edward Vance, president of the medical staff at Phoebe.

The system of recognition also applies when a staff member is mistaken about a safety risk, since the intent is to help a patient.

“If people over-report, there is no harm in that,” said Dr. Steve Kitchen, chief medical officer at Phoebe. “If people are intimidated and under-report, that puts safety at risk.”

In other business, the credentials report presented to the Professional Affairs Committee meeting on Feb. 23 was approved by the board, and Vance said there a change in protocol is being considered regarding weaning patients off of ventilators so that patients can hopefully come off them earlier.

“For the majority of patients, it should apply … and it should (decrease) the length of stay,” Vance said of the new protocol.