Huddle Up: A Touchdown For Patient Safety

Purpose:
To illustrate the effectiveness of daily safety huddles as a catalyst to acheive and maintain performance as it relates to falls, pressure ulcers, infections and pain. Effectiveness is also proven with nursing satisfaction indicators such as nursing quality, decision making and autonomy.

Significance:
In the midst of multiple competing demands to nursing staff,safety huddles apply the theory and concepts behind mindful organizing. Mindful organizing is defined as a set of behaviors that collectively enacted detect emerging errors and minimize the adverse consequences of unexpected events.

Strategy and Implementation:
A pause in the shift at eleven in the morning and at midnight marks the start of the safety huddle. All staff are called together in the middle of the nursing unit for a standing ten minute conversation around safety. The clinical manager or clinical nurse specialist inquire with staff to recall the dates of last fall, last pressure ulcer and last dates of infections (CAUTI and CABSI). This allows the opportunity for staff to own and to review their own quality performance. Barriers and challenges to meet exemplary practice are identified and managed with the expertise of the manager, CNS and informal staff nurse leaders. Additionally, standards of care as recommended by professional organizations are discussed. Examples include but are not limited to: flushing guidelines for PICC, frequency of tracheostomy care and suction, blood administration practices, lab specimen collection process and safe medication administration practices.

Evaluation:
Success of safety huddles is measured by performance in falls, pressure ulcer prevalence, pain, blood stream infections and urinary tract infections. 2012 RN Survey with Job Satisfaction Scales also indicate the success of safety huddles in regards to nursing quality, decision making and autonomy.

Implications for Practice:
Simply taking ten minutes per shift yields positive outcomes on patient safety and staff satisfaction. By being preoccupied with the quality of nursing care of the unit, staff are mindful of their patients' safe passage during the acute care stay.