UK HealthCare Efforts to Improve Patient Safety Showcased This Week

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 22, 2014) — When a patient experiences an unanticipated outcome or an employee is stuck with a needle, UK HealthCare leaders need employees to wave a red flag by reporting the incident.

In 2013, ambulatory clinics accounted for 4 percent of total incident reports at UK HealthCare. According to leaders within the department, the low percentage didn't signify a lack of patient safety incidents— it revealed that employees weren't reporting incidents through the system. 

"We knew they were happening, but we needed people to report them," Jenny Dusso, director of ambulatory clinical operations at UK HealthCare, said of safety incidents. "It's so important that our patients and employees are safe, but in order to do that we have to hear from those on the front line."

Dusso and Morgan Dezarn, systems and procedures analyst for ambulatory services, were tasked with heading the Ambulatory Patient Safety Team, a group of officials dedicated to patient safety and quality. Since the team was established, incident reports from ambulatory clinics have risen by 40 percent. The reports have prompted systemic process changes, including designated phone numbers for clinic staff to report a patient emergency as well as a process that ensures patients in the ambulatory clinics can access transportation to and from their appointments.

During National HealthCare Quality Week, Oct. 19-25, UK HealthCare departments and specialty areas will showcase their efforts to improve the quality, safety and accessibility to health care services for all patients. Representatives from ambulatory, women's health, radiology, pediatrics, ophthalmology and other areas across the UK HealthCare enterprise will display posters that showcase patient safety and quality initiatives. The interactive poster session will be held in Pavilion A of the UK Chandler Hospital from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Oct. 22.

UK HealthCare joins the National Association of Healthcare Quality in observation of National HealthCare Quality Week. The National Association of Healthcare Quality (NAHQ) is a professional organization that shares knowledge and represents healthcare quality in all settings and specialty areas.

MEDIA CONTACT: Elizabeth Adams, elizabethadams@uky.edu