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It’s been a quiet week in Lake Forgoneconclusion, so here are a couple of safety shorts

Hospital Safety Insider, July 5, 2018

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Editor's note: This was originally published on Steve MacArthur's blog, Mac's Safety Space.

Just a couple of quick items as we celebrate the Independence Day holiday and head out into the heat of the summah. So far, scorching has been the primary directive up here in the Northeast. Hope it’s cooler where you are, but I also hope it didn’t snow where you are either. But I guess if you were in Labrador last week, all bets are off...

When last week’s musings on the ligature risk stuff in the July Perspectives went to press (or when I finished my scribbling), the new materials had not yet made their way to TJC’s Frequently Asked Questions page, though I thought that they might. And that’s exactly what has happened, to the tune of 17 new FAQs for hospitals. So if you haven’t yet laid eyes on the July Perspectives, head on over to the FAQ page and immerse yourself in the bounty (that’s a somewhat weird turn of phrase, but I’m going to stick with it).

While you’re there, I think you should definitely poke around at some of the other stuff on the FAQ page. There are lots and lots of recommendation for risk assessment types of activities, so if you’re looking for some risk minimization opportunities, you might find some useful thoughts.

I think of particular note in this regard is the practical application of safety practices in those organizational spaces for which your oversight is somewhat more intermittent. I’m thinking off-site physician practices or medical office buildings or similar care locations. Depending on where you are and where they are, it might not be quite so easy to keep a really close eye on what they’re doing. And while I tend to favor scheduling surveillance rounds with folks in general, I also know that if you don’t stop by from time to time, you might not catch any lurking opportunities (and they do tend to be lurksome when they know you’re coming for a visit).

In a lot of the survey results I’ve seen over the last 18 months or so, there’s still a pretty good chunk of survey findings generated during the ambulatory care part of the survey process. Safety "lives" at the point of care/service, wherever that may be – definitely more ground to cover now that in the past.  At any rate, I think you could use the FAQ stuff as a jumping off point to increase the safety awareness of folks throughout, and you can do that independently of anyone’s vacation schedule (including your own).

Hope you and yours had a most festive 4th!

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