Although the drawers in this filing cabinet are labelled there is no standardisation to it. How easy is to find the drawer you want if you are in a hurry?
Untidy filing. Documents not always put away. Paper falling out of cabinet. This can makes finding documents slow and time consuming and open to error if a document is put in the wrong drawer or lost.
These fluids stored here are all different. Although labelled, how easy is it to pick up the wrong one? Look at the red labels - is the label for the tray above or below?
The trap here is that the fluids stored here are all different. There is a normal saline stored next to potassium and glucose. In a hurry, the wrong fluid may be picked up and cause patient harm or even death.
Lisinopril tablets. Spot the pack with different dose. Very similar colours (purple and dark blue) to distinguish between 10mg and 20mg. Easy to pick up wrong pack if in a hurry.
One drug is a strong pain killer used in anaesthetics (Fentanyl). The other is also used in anaesthetics and is a paralysing agent (Suxamethonium). Both look the same, same dose. Very dangerous if the wrong one is given to patient.
Same packaging and text. Why isn't the dose in a different colour so it easily stands out? Busy staff have to look very closely at the boxes to identify the difference. Mistakes could easily be made.
They look identical but different drugs. Often stored in the same place. Not catastrophic for most patients if they were given by mistake but would be for patients who were allergic.
The objective of this investigation was to explore the care of patients who have ureteric stents inserted following a diagnosis of a kidney or ureteric stone. A ureteric stent is a narrow tube that is inserted into the ureter (the tube that connects the kidney to the bladder) to help with urine drainage.
The reference event investigated was a woman who suffered an episode of kidney stones which was treated successfully but required the insertion of a ureteric stent. The stent was left in situ (in position) for a longer period than intended and became encrusted – that is, minerals filtered from the bloodstream attached to and built up on the stent. This led to the patient needing a more extensive operation to remove the stent.
The findings and conclusions aim to prevent the future occurrence of unplanned delayed removal of stents and improve care for patients across the NHS.
Tools are useful when working to become a high reliability organisation, but they do have their downsides. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement's Kedar Mate explains.