With the support of The Health Foundation, an independent charity in Great Britain, and designed and implemented by IHI, the Safer Patients Initiative (SPI) is a quality and performance improvement program that encompasses all four nations of the United Kingdom. The program, now entering its third year, puts safety at the heart of all care delivery.
Two SPI hospitals in England — Musgrove Park Hospital in the Taunton and Somerset NHS Trust, and Torbay Hospital in the South Devon Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust — have been working as partners to reduce adverse events, hospital-acquired infections such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and overall mortality, using an IHI tool called safety briefings.
Based on concepts in aviation and other industries, safety briefings are quick huddles where staff review the important safety issues on the ward at any given time, particularly at shift changes. The briefings help assure that everyone is focused on safety.
“The concept of the safety briefing is fantastic,” says Julie Branter, Head of Clinical Governance/Risk in Taunton. “We use the briefings to identify safety risks and to highlight the infection status of patients, which is especially important at handovers.”
Staff say the briefings have helped contribute to successes such as a dramatic increase in hand hygiene compliance — up from 46 percent in 2006 to 94 percent in 2007 at Taunton — as well as significant reductions in MRSA infections — 254 infection-free days in one Torbay ward, and counting.
06/01/2008
