HRO S.T.R.O.N.G. – Speak Up for Safety
As part of Cooper University Health Care’s involvement in the New Jersey High Reliability Organization (HRO) Collaborative, also known as New Jersey S.T.R.O.N.G., our goal is to train and educate staff on how to provide the best care to our patients in the safest environment.
Cooper employees should speak up when there is a concern that a patient or coworker could be harmed due to an unintended error or a choice to deviate from a policy or procedure.
It is important to speak up when you have a safety concern, even if it feels uncomfortable to get pushback from a peer or manager. We all have a responsibility to speak up with safety concerns – to protect our patients and each other.
When speaking up for safety, use the error prevention tool – ARCC:
Ask a Question
Make a Request (for change)
Voice a Concern and if no success …
Use the Chain of command
Here’s an example of when to use the ARCC tool in the Operating Room:
- Ask a question: Are we sure this is the correct site?
– Of course it is, it’s marked. - Request: I request we check the site against the consent form before we continue.
– There is no need. The site was marked in pre-op.
Still concerned? Voice your concern:
- Concern: I have a Safety Concern, the marked site and consent do not match the scheduled case information. Can we verify what the correct site is before proceeding?
– No, we can’t delay the cases for today any further. - Chain of Command: Finally, if you are still uncertain, feel free to get your manager involved.
Everyone in the OR must stop what they are doing, turn and face the field, and focus their full attention on the timeout. If anyone hears any discrepancy in what is read from the consent and the procedure to be performed or that was performed, it is that person’s responsibility to Speak Up. All activities should stop until the discrepancy is resolved.
For more information about Speaking Up for Safety, sign up for HRO training via the Cooper Learning Network, or check out our HRO website which includes articles about all of the New Jersey STRONG safe and reliable error prevention tools.
https://www.ecommunity.com/sites/default/files/uploads/2017-04/ReleaseTriggerFinger.pdf