Since implementing error prevention training almost a year ago, more than half of Texas Children’s employees – 8,075 clinical and nonclinical staff – have completed their required training. While these numbers are impressive, our goal is to achieve 100 percent compliance by Tuesday, June 30.
In July 2014, Texas Children’s launched error prevention training to ensure all employees and medical staff across the organization are equipped with the necessary tools to keep patients safe. This training initiative is a critical component of our CareFirst promise – to focus on what’s right for our employees and medical staff, and most importantly, what’s right for our patients, their families and their care.
Error prevention training is based on the notion that every Texas Children’s employee – regardless of job title or position – plays an important role in preventing and eliminating preventable harm to patients.
“Every day, we provide care to the sickest of the sick at Texas Children’s, and when you’re taking care of that many severely ill children and women, it’s a great challenge,” said Texas Children’s President and CEO Mark A. Wallace. “Everyone recognizes that creating a safe environment – focusing on safety and error omission – is job one. Doing no harm to our patients is first and foremost.”
That’s where error prevention training comes into play. Texas Children’s Chief Safety Officer Dr. Joan Shook says delivering clear, concise and complete communication is paramount to ensuring the safest possible patient care.
“Once training is completed, employees know how to effectively communicate concerns requiring action, how to support a questioning attitude, and how to employ three-way communication to achieve greater clarity,” Shook said. “When everyone speaks a common language and shares the same expectations, we can eliminate preventable harm to patients.”
As part of our commitment to patient safety, Texas Children’s has pledged that every member of our workforce and medical staff receive this critical training. Frontline staff are required to take three hours of classroom training and non-clinical employees can complete their training online.
June 30 is the deadline to compete error prevention training. Click here to log in to the E-learning module.
“Error prevention training will propel us to the next level of safety at Texas Children’s and encourage employees to speak up when something doesn’t seem quite right,” Shook said. “We have a moral obligation. If we can prevent harm to patients, let’s prevent it.”
Click here to watch a CareFirst video highlighting how each of us can make patient care safer at Texas Children’s by advancing error prevention initiatives.