Keeping patients safe in the hospital setting Is “first do no harm” even possible? Dr Nicola Yuen Deputy Chief Medical Officer / Director of Obs & Gyn, Bendigo Health
Keeping patients safe in the hospital setting
Is “first do no harm” even possible?
Dr Nicola YuenDeputy Chief Medical Officer /
Director of Obs & Gyn, Bendigo Health
Introduction
● “If health care was an airline, only dedicated risk takers, thrill seekers, and those tired of living would fly on it.”
Dr. Charles Vincent, Patient Safety, 2005
How do we raise the profile of harm such that reducing it becomes an integral part of a hospital’s behaviour??
Themesofpatientharm
● Insidious failures sometimes known – right people weren’t aware
● Right people were aware but didn’t take the right action
● Catastrophic failures● Poor management / no leadership● Frequent offenders
Methodsofuncoveringharm
● A catastrophic event too terrible to ignore occurs● “Whistleblowing”● Persistent and motivated staff or patients ● Media
● ……..or the hospital discovers it!
Barrierstoidentifyingpatientharm
● 1. Culture within the hospital is damaged● 2. Hospital management structures inadequate to
manage● 3. Hospitals can rationalise adverse events to
themselves● 4. Performance management is hard● 5. Process of external review is difficult and costly
Sohowdoweimprove● 1. Change the culture
● 2. Create robust clinical governance
● 3. Learn from our mistakes
CreatingClinicalGovernance
● Clinical governance in hospitals – process by which we (managers / clinicians / staff) share responsibility and accountability for patient care by continuously improving, minimising risks and fostering an environment of excellent care
(RCH Clinical Governance Unit)
CornerstonesofclinicalgovernanceClinical Governance Framework
Safety
Quality Maintenan
ce and Improvem
ent
Professional and
Organisational
Accountability
Culture and
Learning
Letsrevisitourscenario● 1. Incident notified● 2. Significance recognised● 3. Investigation highlights both system and individual
errors● 4. Quality improvements implemented● 5. Performance management ● 6. Learn – audit, educate and disseminate the lessons
learned
Whatroledomedicalmanagershave?
● Hospital inquiries through the early 2000s focussed on issues with trust, hospital culture, lack of clinical governance and poor clinical performance
● Responsibility now is to build a listening responsive culture with clear clinical governance
Thefutureofmedicalmanagers
● Clinicians as managers refocus the efforts of the organisation back on to the patients
● Organisationally “multi-lingual”
● “the fewer the resources, the greater the management challenge”