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Safety education: Promote fun and success

Staff Development Weekly: Insight on Evidence-Based Practice in Education, April 2, 2004

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Patient and staff safety education can be accomplished with pens and paper, but why not implement a unique, effective method that interactively tests your staff's skills? That's exactly what Gwen Dennis, Education Coordinator at Mecosta County General Hospital in Big Rapids, MI did to reinforce safety at her facility. She created a training activity based on a popular television show. Educators divided the classroom into two groups and began the competition.  The trainers asked participants multiple-choice questions from PowerPoint slides and rewarded points for correct answers. (Anyone who wanted help from their teammates had to eat "bugs" i.e., gummy worms). Employees who disliked participatory games were given score-keeping or bug-delivering tasks so that everyone had a chance to enjoy the activity. The trainers also developed the following obstacles, rewarding the winners with food. 
* Pig Obstacle. Participants were asked to reach into a small garbage can unaware of its contents. A box of gloves was placed on the table next to the participant to test who would use them. Those who neglected to use them grabbed a handful of jell-o and plastic spiders.
* Water Obstacle. Trainers put a glow-in-the-dark substance indicating the presence of germs on employees' hands and asked them to wash their hands.  Trainers then turned out the lights and used a black light to demonstrate how many germs were still on employees' hands.
* Lifting Obstacle. Using a box, employees demonstrated how to lift heavy objects. The opposite team decided whether the employee used correct techniques.
* Fire Obstacle. In this team relay, four people from each group lined up and carried a fire extinguisher to the far side of the room, set it down, and wrote one of the four words for the acronym PASS on a pad, grabbed the extinguisher, walked back and passed the extinguisher on to the next person in line.

At the end of the game, each member of the winning team won candy and all the employees had to complete a written test. Try this idea at your facility for a fun and successful way to convey safety information.

Reprinted with permission from Gwen Dennis, Education Coordinator at Mecosta County General Hospital in Big Rapids, MI.

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