Recognizing Patient Safety Awareness Week March 13-19, 2022 (with ideas)

To help you get creative in recognizing Patient Safety Awareness this week starting March 13-19, 2022, we searched the internet for the best ideas. There are several ideas that can help bring awareness , create a culture of safety and spark action in your practice.

Information is helping to promote and improve patient safety.

Here are the 7 National Patient Safety Goals for 2022:

  • Identify patients correctly
  • Improve staff communication
  • Use medicines safely
  • Use alarms safely
  • Prevent infection
  • Identify patient safety risks
  • Prevent mistakes in surgery

Make Patient Safety Everyone’s Job

We believe safety is everyone’s job, no matter their role, and for the past several years we have made the most of the week to get everyone’s attention. Beyond doling out stickers and crafting social media posts, we have found that there are real, substantive benefits gained from the activities we present during the week that offer opportunities to reinforce our commitment to zero harm. Here are the top ideas to take part:

  1. Showcase leadership commitment. Our senior leaders stood outside the main hospital entrance, beginning at 6 o’clock in the morning, to greet staff, shake their hands and thank them for their commitment to safety.
  2. Reinforce safety culture, standards and practices. The week also represents a good opportunity to remind staff of available resources, including people to call for help or with questions.
  3. Celebrate the wins. We held a celebratory luncheon featuring a guest speaker, photo booth with props, stations to fill out personal statement flyers, and door prizes.
  4. Connect the work to patients. One of our family advisors shared her experience working with patient safety and why she felt this work is important in eliminating preventable harm.
  5. Recognize everyone’s role.  From faculty to environmental services, we strive to translate our message and reinforce that each of our roles connects to the safety of each other and most importantly for our patients, families, and staff.

~ Shanda Johnson, Institute for Healthcare Improvement

Celebrate Improvement Wins

Kootenai Healthbased in Coeur D’Alene, recognized staff  had a recent “Good Catch”  with Swedish Fish and Goldfish prizes. The team also hosted a viewing party for the IHI free Virtual Learning Hour and a screening of a patient safety documentary, and held a Safety Fair and poster contest. To promote the event, images of staff and quotes from staff and patients were placed on cafe tables.

Promote Patient Safety with Awards

Deaconess Health System, based in Evansville, had a number of activities planned, including a bulletin board competition through which departments could show their “patient safety destination” (hand washing, fall reduction, etc.). They also gave “Speak Up” awards, chosen through peer nominations and awarded to staff who speak up to advocate and keep their patients’ safe. A life-sized cut-out of their patient safety mascot, Safety Sam, conveyed patient safety messages throughout the week. The team planned to share the results of the competitions and the creative efforts at the organization’s Safety Ambassador Committee meeting, Patient Safety Committee, Leadership Meeting, and on the hospital’s internal webpage.

Pledge Protocols

Community Medical Center in Missoula planned to do a safety display highlighting the five patient incident posters that are displayed on the organization’s website. They were to be displayed with safety behaviors used in the institution and a list of Safety Champions for the past year. The team also planned to provide a suggestion box for ways to make the hospital safer, and had a room occupied by “Miss Mayhem,” with a prize for a person who identified all of the safety issues in the room. Staff were able to sign a huge copy of a Pledge Poster as they entered the display. The poster will be moved from one department to another at intervals during the coming year as a reminder to staff about patient safety.

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