Safety is my top priority

By Liz Withers, MD, MBA, Good Samaritan Chief Medical Officer

As I reflect on what I’m thankful for this season and throughout the year, my gratitude for your kindness, partnership and skill immediately pop to mind. I’m honored to have the opportunity to advocate for you and support you in my role as chief medical officer.

An important part of that work is ensuring your safety – from every angle. I want you to be safe, feel safe and know that the tools and processes we’ve built allow you to provide the safest care for your patients.

SafetyNet

SafetyNet is Intermountain’s comprehensive safety event-management system. It is the official platform for reporting all safety events and concerns related to clinicians, caregivers and patients.

You are an essential partner in this effort. The quality and safety of the care we provide always has benefitted from your vigilance and leadership, as well as your willingness to transparently report concerns and safety events.

These events can include physician and APP needlesticks, bloodborne pathogen exposures, errors in patient medication administration, delays in patient diagnosis and treatment, and more.

Any unexpected occurrence or process variance inconsistent with routine care or that could impact the quality of patient care should be reported. Below are some examples.

• Medication errors

• Surgical or invasive procedure events, i.e., contaminated surgical equipment, wrong-site surgery or the unintended retention of a foreign body

• Anesthesia-related events

• Care-management events

• Patient falls and injuries

• Delays in care

• Product or device events

• Criminal events

• Environmental events

• Associate injury events and OSHA-recordable events 

• Workplace violence such as verbal violence, threats of harm or violence, property damage, or physical or sexual assaults

• Behavior that violates our culture of safety, which ensures you are empowered to speak up on behalf of your patients

By reporting these events, you allow us to immediately intervene as appropriate to find a solution, as well as track occurrences to identify any trends that need a hospital-wide, or even an enterprise-wide, fix.

Please don’t assume someone else will file a SafetyNet. If you witness an occurrence worthy of a report, be the one who takes the simple step to start the process.

SafetyNet is accessible clicking here, or from your MyIntermountain homepage by clicking the Safety button in the toolbar across the top and following the prompts for reporting. You also can call the Compliance Hotline at 877-393-6752 and ask for a report to be submitted on your behalf.

In Good Samaritan’s Always Safe culture, your voice is essential and protected. You should feel confident that your reports about patient care, hospital processes or a colleague’s concerning behavior will be received and examined appropriately, without risk of retaliation.

You are deeply valued members of our hospital community, and I’m proud to put safety first as we partner together in the vital work of healing and comforting our patients. Thank you for your care and collaboration. Please let me know if there’s anything I can do for you.

Have a safe and joyful holiday season.