UWMC heats up safety practices

As with many modern hospitals, the University of Washington Medical Center (UWMC) has become increasingly committed to the assurance of patient safety within its walls. Hospital staff and other UW leaders have strived over the past few years to turn the UW Medical Center into one of the safest hospitals in the entire country.

Ensuring this consistent action toward patient safety is the group known as the Husky Event Analysis Team (HEAT).

This diverse group meets once a week to discuss "low-harm" incidents that have been reported by hospital staff members through an online database. These low-harm events can include something as simple as a patient taking a spill from a slippery hallway.

According to UWeek, the UW faculty and staff newspaper, HEAT boasts a multi-faceted group of individuals from numerous different occupations. This ensures that HEAT is able to make informed and well-balanced decisions in response to patient safety issues. Personnel includes a patient care services director, a patient safety officer, two risk management representatives, a patient falls clinical specialist, a medication safety pharmacist, a radiology operations manager, a nurse manager and a rotating senior associate medical director who attends once a month.

Lisa Goben, the patient safety information systems administrator and HEAT facilitator, asserts that a diverse array of issues are discussed at the weekly meetings.

"Medication errors, patient falls, miscommunication between departments and equipment issues are just some of the many safety events that can occur in a complex hospital environment," she said.

In order to increase efficiency, Goben requires that all members of HEAT stand for the duration of all meetings. Goben believes that this facilitates a productive work environment, which is critical when dealing with patient safety.

"I was reluctant to add another weekly one-hour meeting to everyone's busy schedule unless I could keep it moving quickly and focus on the business at hand," she said. "People can get a little too comfortable at times sitting down, and conversations will drift off topic. When your legs start to get tired, you are less likely to chit chat," she said.

The aim of HEAT is to identify and implement process improvement, with the goal of improved patient care and a decrease in patient-harm events, said Mary Guiden, a staff member of UWeek.

The program is sponsored by the UWMC's Center for Clinical Excellence. It is similar to programs used at other hospitals around the country, such as Johns Hopkins University.

It seems that HEAT is having an effect on the UWMC. Since HEAT's inception, there have been fewer patient falls at the hospital. This is partially due to the fact that the team worked to add a coating of new materials to the floor to make it easier for walking.

All of the incidents that are reported are addressed in some capacity, Goben asserted.

[Reach reporter Chris Heide at news@thedaily.washington.edu.]