Empowered Employees Stop the Line for Safety
- Speaking up immediately and “stopping the line” if a radiologic technologist encounters any deviation from workflow or a risk to patient safety.
- Filling out a simple, accessible form which the UBT then uses to address the issue that arose.
What can your team do to create a culture of Speaking Up in your department? What else could your team do to ensure follow up after a safety incident?
Radiologic technologists in South San Francisco Radiology’s UBT speak up and “stop the line” when they encounter anything that deviates from the workflow or is a potential patient safety risk. Afterward, they fill out a brief report used to track issues that then are addressed by the UBT. The department has seen a 50 percent reduction of “significant events”—incidents in which a patient is incorrectly irradiated, whether it be a wrong body part or a scan is repeated unnecessarily—from the previous year.
Radiologic technologists “stop the line” when they see a potential risk to patients and have a clear process for tracking issues. Their unit-based saw a 50 percent reduction of “significant events.”
Jesus Francisco Reyna, South San Francisco Radiology Tech/CT Lead and SEIU UHW member
reduction in "significant events" from the previous year