For hospitals to truly have a culture of safety, team members must feel comfortable speaking up when they see a colleague doing something that could potentially harm a patient. A large part of being successful in this area is choosing the right concern statement and implementing it in the right way.
LifeWings, a patient safety consulting firm, provided the following seven tips to choosing and implementing a concern statement in a recent newsletter.
1. Frontline staff should agree on the statement in advance. "The phrase…should not be an edict handed down by administration, but an 'agreement' made by staff during interdisciplinary training," according to a LifeWings report.
2. Include the physicians. The statement should be chosen during training sessions where the unit's physicians are present.
3. "I'm concerned" is a popular concern statement. "I'm uncomfortable" comes in second, according to the report.
4. Choose a different statement for when patients are awake or their families are nearby. Instead of using "I'm concerned" in front of a patient, for instance, a unit could choose "I need clarity" or "Let's have a team check" for when patients and family members are within earshot.
5. Practice. The concern statement should "roll off their tongue with ease," according to the report.
6. Formally integrate the language. The statement, and the requirement of its use, should be worked into job descriptions, performance reviews, interviewing procedures, onboarding materials and the like.
7. Make administration support obvious. According to the report, the most common reason staff say they don't speak up is because they feel the administration does not support them. The report suggests implementing a "good catch" program that publically rewards team members for speaking up.
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