Reducing riskAORN partners with APS to offer online courseware designed to reduce risk and improve patient safety through a team approach to learning
By Carina Stanton
Senior News Editor
As health care leaders work to reduce errors through communication and shared knowledge among their surgical teams, education that meets these needs is in high demand. Seeking ways to offer such comprehensive education, AORN has partnered with online education provider Advanced Practice Strategies (APS) to create the APS OR Safety Series. This online courseware is designed for members of the surgical team to learn a consistent approach to OR safety and risk management by providing evidence-based and case-based information framed within a common language.
“The APS OR Safety Series reinforces a systems approach to medical error and charges the surgical team with collective responsibility for outcomes,” explained Martin November, MD, APS chief medical officer.
The subject matter of the APS OR Safety Series addresses a broad range of key areas involved in the practice of patient safety, beginning with a course on systems theory as it applies to healthcare, as well as courses on coordination of care, responding to adverse events, and team communication. According to November, these courses form the bedrock of understanding a team approach to patient safety.
Additional OR Safety Series courses focus on specific procedures for surgical specialties, including laparoscopic and bariatric surgery. They are structured as online “tool kits” with links to additional resources. For example, in “Reducing Error in the OR” when the surgical safety checklist and the Time Out are discussed, course participants can download sample checklists or click on a link to more information on the World Health Organization’s Surgical Safety Checklist.
See a demonstration of the introduction to “Reducing Error in the OR.”
Empowering nurses
While the content for courses within the APS OR Safety Series is designed for all members of the surgical team, these surgical “tool kit” courses also include resources tailored to individual members of the team. For example, an SBAR communications strategy checklist within the courses provide nurses an opportunity to explore how best to speak up if they observe a break in safe practices or a potential problem that could occur.
Courses on specific surgical specialties address aspects of the procedure about which surgical team members may have varying levels of knowledge, such as functionality of instrumentation and case-specific anatomical knowledge. One course on laparoscopic surgery includes potential equipment issues with tools such as cautery devices and also explores different ways of gaining entry into the abdomen.
“This knowledge can help nurses contribute to identifying potential patient safety issues before they occur,” November stressed. “It is a central philosophy at APS that the nursing role is critically important and central to risk reduction and outcomes improvement. We have a strongly identified goal of empowering the nursing team, through a combination of knowledge about error and creating understanding of their interactive role within team.”
Measuring outcomes
Use of APS curricula as part of a broader shift in addressing patient safety has helped several health care facilities measurably improve outcomes. The Harvard System uses the APS curriculum on obstetrics as part of an OB incentive program that led to improved outcomes.
In 2008 an article in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology found improved outcomes, fewer cesarean deliveries, and reduced litigation after implementing APS curricula as part of a stronger focus on using checklists and team communication to improve patient outcomes.
Evidence-based education
Connecting with experts to include current, evidence-based information is an important aspect of the content creation for these online courses, which are updated annually and at other times throughout the year when new information is released, said Dennis Ferrill, CEO of APS. Courseware authors include experts from Stanford University Hospitals, Lucian Leape, MD, of The Lucian Leape Institute at the National Patient Safety Foundation, and the Risk Management Foundation of the Harvard Medical Institution.
APS is known for its educational offerings in the area of medical error reduction and risk management and works with medical professionals, legal teams, and risk management organizations to reduce medical error and its associated liability, according to Ferrill. “The key to our approach is to work with the experts who are discovering the origins of error and then putting that information into a format that is practical, digestible, and engaging for clinicians working in a complex environment.”
Focus on instructional design
The instructional design of courses within the APS OR Safety Series is tailored to address the complexities of the healthcare environment through technical visual displays and an educational approach to content intended to engage the clinician.
Clinically accurate medical illustrations are an important part of the design of the series. These illustrations are used to create a visual display that complements APS educational materials. For example, in a course on inguinal hernia repair, an anatomical illustration is used to demonstrate how to prevent postoperative pain.
Inguinal hernia repairs have several known
complications with chronic pain one of the most
prevalent. A major method for reducing this risk
is to avoid nerve entrapment.
The courses are also designed to be accessed periodically in short bursts of time to accommodate a perioperative professional’s busy schedule.
Earning CE
Because the courses are designed for all members of the surgical team, continuing education credit for different team members is included in each course. Nursing continuing education credit for these courses are approved by AORN and the American Nurses Credentialing Center.
The APS OR Safety Series is now available to AORN members to be purchased individually or by health care organizations. Find more information on pricing and content for the APS OR Safety Series here.
Read more news in AORN Management Connections.