Thank you for reading our final Safety First Newsletter of 2021. This has been a busy and successful year for our Safety and Infection Prevention team and we’re excited to continue our great working relationships with campus leaders. I want to highlight some of the major successes we have achieved this year, both in the department and across Kettering Health.
- Our team has been blessed with Lindsay Alexander and D’Anna Stekli as our respective managers of Patient Safety and Infection Prevention and Control. They are doing a fantastic job and are available to discuss any of your concerns.
- Marcy Vixie has taken over for Bev Schneider (who retired after 45 years with Kettering Health) as Kettering Health director of Safety and Quality. Marcy had previously been the Clinical Quality director for the Kettering Health Main Campus system.
- Pratixa Patel, PharmD, is our Kettering Health Medication Safety Officer—a shared role with Pharmacy and Quality with a goal of reducing harm from medication errors.
- We have developed a Safety and Quality Dashboard in PowerBI that allows managers and above to see real-time data regarding event reporting, Serious Reportable Events, HAPIs, and falls. The accessibility of real-time data is key to the ability to make effective change for the better for our patients and staff. Thank you to Alex Williamson in Process Excellence for his superior work in creating this dashboard!
- The Daily Safety Briefings for each campus have been standardized to optimize communication of key safety information. We thank the many participants who make these briefings a key part of maintaining safe practices for our patients and staff every day.
- At each Daily Safety Briefing, staff “great catches” are recognized. A great catch occurs when staff recognize potential patient harm and are proactive in correcting the issue. Great catches are celebrated at the respective campus and shared with all of Kettering Health. Our quality and safety team review the great catches and recognizes a Great Catch of the Month and Year.
- New modes and types of communication cascades for safety information have been created, including Safety and Risk Alerts, our Safety First monthly newsletter, Safety Spotlights, and our video Safety First Forums that are in conjunction with the quarterly Town Halls.
- Kettering Health joined Press Ganey’s Safety 2025 program this year. The goal is a lofty one: to reduce patient harm events by 80% by 2025. We now have access to a wealth of resources to help reduce harm including membership in the Press Ganey Patient Safety Organization and educational materials and webinars. We are also adopting the Press Ganey RCA investigation process.
- Team Stepps has been rolled out at the Soin Medical Center Operating Room and will soon be introduced across the organization. This program focuses on safety behaviors and communication skills that front-line staff and providers can use to reduce the risk of error.
We hope that you and your loved ones have a happy and healthy holiday season and look forward to our ongoing collaborative efforts in 2022 to achieve Zero Harm.
Sincerely,
- Jeffrey Weinstein, MD
Patient Safety Officer, Kettering Health
- Marcy Vixie
Director of Safety and Quality, Kettering Health
- Lindsay Alexander
Manager of Patient Safety, Kettering Health
- Pratixa Patel
Medication Safety Officer, Kettering Health
- D’Anna Stekli
Manager for Infection Prevention and Control, Kettering Health