Employee Safety: Always Looking Out for One Another

By: Danielle Bouchat-Friedman

Published: 12/6/2022

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The Oregon Clinic Gastroenterology East at Gateway ensures personal protection remains a top priority.


The pandemic has everyone on edge and patients’ frustration levels have understandably reached an all-time high. Dealing with a highly agitated patient can be scary — especially during the height of COVID-19 — and is something many healthcare workers don’t know how to properly handle. Offering training and solutions for incidents like this is something The Oregon Clinic Gastroenterology East at Gateway in Portland does not take lightly, and is one of the many reasons the facility is the winner of the 2020 OR Excellence Award for Employee Safety.

“We’ve called the local sheriff’s department to get pointers on how to deal with difficult patients,” says Wendy Wellott, RN, an endoscopy nurse who is also the facility’s safety and infection coordinator. “It’s hard to stay calm when someone is being irrational.”

The clinic has a backup system called Dr. Strong, which is an alert button installed in the reception area. If a patient or a visitor is agitated and staff doesn’t feel comfortable, they press the button to alert the center’s security officer. The computers at the front desk are equipped with Skype, so staff can easily log on and message someone if they need help.

Honorable Mention
Empowering Employees
PAPER TRAIL Staff fill out Unusual Occurrence Reports, which administration reviews and addresses.

Have you ever seen something like this occur in your ORs? During a procedure, a nurse accidentally dislodges the oxygen tubing. The anesthesiologist notices the patient is not oxygenating and quickly reconnects the tubing, but yells at the nurse for the mistake. Most nurses would just chalk the incident up to another day in the OR, but at PIH Health Downey (Calif.) Hospital, they can submit an Unusual Occurrence Report to Muriel Moyo, MS, BSN, RN, CCRN-K, NE-BC, the administrative director of surgical services. She reviews incidents and submits them to the hospital’s quality department or recommends them for peer review in order to further investigate and address the issues.

“I always thank staff for bringing their concerns to me and fully support them,” says Ms. Moyo. “If there’s a problem, we need to talk about it. I’ve seen a greater openness and willingness to discuss issues. Our department’s overall performance has improved because of this.”


VOICES OF REASO\N
VOICES OF REASON Cannon E. Turner, MD, was recruited by Knoxville Orthopaedic for his use of ultrasound-guided nerve blocks and innovative anesthesia practices at same-day total joints centers.  |  Knoxville Orthopaedic Clinic

The surgical department also boasts a staff-run shared governance council that meets monthly for in-depth discussions about staff concerns and ways to improve patient care. Staff develop comprehensive action plans and process improvement projects.

Ms. Moyo believes the council has empowered the staff. “Instead of having a vertical leadership model, we exhibit a horizontal system,” she explains. “It’s not always about being authoritarian because it’s very easy to tell people what to do. It’s important to give staff members a voice.”

— Danielle Bouchat-Friedman

 

 


These methods are more effective than picking up the phone and calling for help, which could provoke the agitated individual even more. “It’s another level of security for our staff,” says Ms. Wellott. “But we have also trained them to say in a nice, calm voice, ‘I’m here to help you, but let me go get my nurse manager.’ People appreciate it when you’re willing to retrieve a higher-up to help them.”

Ms. Wellott, because of her role as the safety and infection coordinator at the facility, and the nurse lead often get called in to diffuse troubling confrontations. “I have a knack for dealing with frustrated patients,” she says. “Everybody likes to call me ‘the softie’ because I have a way with people.”

SAFETY NET Staff can easily report any work-related issues or concerns that they have to The Safety Net, the clinic's online monitoring system.   |  Wendy Wellott, RN

The facility is located close to a busy train station and advocates that staff use the buddy system when leaving. “I always send all-staff emails to remind them to walk with a buddy to their cars or the train, or to carry pepper spray or a taser if they’re walking to their cars late at night,” says Ms. Wellott. The clinic has taken this action a step further by adjusting its security department’s work schedule. The morning guard arrives at 6:30 a.m., and a guard is on duty at night to escort patients into the building’s sleep center. The staff has the guard’s phone number in case they need his help or notice something suspicious.

Each year, the facility conducts four employee safety training sessions and four fire drills. “We perform yearly risk assessments and focus the trainings on events that might impact our staff,” says Ms. Wellott. “We actually faced a bomb scare last year that ended up being an empty bag left by the train station. But our staff was prepared and knew what to do.”

Staff can still report work-related issues or concerns through the organization’s online safety monitoring system. The electronic reports are routed to risk management and, depending on the issues involved, sent to the director of operations or the nurse manager. “After staff members submit reports, they get consistent updates about how the issues are being resolved,” says Ms. Wellott. “They see their concerns are being heard and taken seriously.” OSM

Honorable Mention
Helping Staff Feel Safe
EASY ENTRY Newly automatic doors in the pre- and post-op areas are operated by remote control, so employees no longer have to worry about holding the doors open.  |  Bill Willis, RN

Surgical professionals often arrive early and stay late, and most don’t feel comfortable walking a long distance in the dark to get to and from their cars. It might sound simple, but offering close, secure parking for employees shows you care about their well-being.

“We designated staff parking spots just 20 yards from the building,” says Bill Willis, RN, clinical director at Vance Thompson Vision in Sioux Falls, S.D. “Each employee must enter their own unique code into the keypad to enter through the back door. Any vendor who needs access to the building before 8 a.m. or after 5 p.m. also has their own code. That way we can keep track of who’s coming in and out of the building. We also have security cameras that are always on and recording, even overnight.”

The two operating rooms in the ophthalmic surgery center were already equipped with automatic doors, but Mr. Willis decided to go even further to increase employee safety. He had remote controlled automatic doors installed in the pre- and post-op areas. Staff have access to 10 different remotes to operate all four doors with just the tap of a button. They no longer have to hold doors open or worry about a patient falling and pulling them down.

The surgery center believes focusing on the well-being of its staff positively impacts the way they treat patients. “If team members have a great place to work, they’re going to provide great patient care,” says Mr. Willis.

— Danielle Bouchat-Friedman