SAFE goes beyond complaints to build a safety culture
On March 1, SHC launched a new physician-friendly reporting tool, SAFE (Stanford Alerts for Events), to help physicians and SHC build a culture of safety that goes far beyond complaints and adverse incident reports.
SAFE replaces the Patient Safety Network (PSN) for reporting incidents, “but it’s really designed for broader use and to be really easy for physicians to use to make a report or start a dialog about a concern,” said Steve Chinn, director, of accreditation, quality and safety. Chinn worked closely with Chief of Staff Bryan Bohman and others to make sure that SAFE responded to physician needs . (Click here for physician tip sheet).
In addition to direct access to SAFE on the SHC intranet, physicians may relay concerns or questions securely to safe@stanfordmed.org or to voicemail at 650- 497-8788. Only four individuals within the Quality/Patient Safety Department have access to the email site and voicemail, Chinn said.
“If we use it, this can be great tool for physicians to bring attention to some of the challenges and frustrations we face in our daily clinical activities, and to propose potential solutions,” said Bohman.
The system is designed for official safety reports, but the prompts help physicians to determine how to frame their concerns, and prompts also ask clinicians whether they want a response, and/or whether they wish to remain anonymous, Chinn explained.
SAFE enables the institution to extract information anonymously from reports to help track trends, and hence, improve safety, he added. In the near future, if a service chief, for example, wants a report on the number of reported events in certain categories, “we should be able to generate that report automatically by extracting and compiling existing data,” Chinn said.
“We’re really trying to encourage a culture of safety and trust. Finding out quickly about incidents from physicians who understand the situation and context is far superior to waiting until a frustrated patient or family member files a complaint and we hear of the incident for the first time when the process server shows up,” Chinn added.
Bohman stressed that SAFE can be an efficient, easy mechanism for busy physicians to make general suggestions. “The system, using direct email, voicemail and eventually Epic, is designed so that a relevant individual reviews every submission, responding promptly as appropriate. If you have a question or otherwise want a response, you can rest assure you’ll receive it,” he said.
Chinn said an issue with PSN and previous mechanisms was that incoming information wasn’t always collected and categorized in a manner that ensured a response to the reporter. “The worst case scenario was when someone, unsure about what to do, surreptitiously slipped a note under a manager’s door in hopes that somehow the problem could be addressed.”
For a broader discussion of the rationale behind SAFE, see the Chief of Staff column in the March 2011 issue of Medical Staff Update.
For questions, please contact Steve Chinn, our Director for Quality and Safety. [SDChinn@stanfordmed.org; 723-6395]
