Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day: EOC orientation and ongoing education

Going to touch on a couple of things this week. First up? Ed-yoo-ma-cation!

A week or so back, I received an email encouraging me to list what educational competencies are most important relative to preparing for the survey process. Off the top of my head, the list (in no particular order) goes a little something like this (and I will stipulate that competency is the key focal point for these):

• Fire response, including (and perhaps most importantly) department-level protocols
• Emergency response, including how to summon assistance in an emergency
• How to report an Environment of Care (EOC) problem or condition (I like to include “How to recognize an EOC problem or condition” as a subset of this one)
• How to manage their own care environment (this is a bit of a stretch as it is not specifically mandated by code or regulation, but I will characterize this as something of a distillation of the general duty clause, kind of…)

After that, things get kind of gray, but if you look really closely at that last one, it comes down to everyone being able to demonstrate competency relative to what skills and knowledge are required for them to do their job appropriately (safely, timely, etc.). From knowing how long disinfectant has to keep a surface wet to appropriately disinfect whatever surface you’re disinfecting (say that 10 times fast!) to making sure that folks who are charged with providing on-to-one safety observation of at-risk patients are conversant with what to look for, how to summon assistance, when it is appropriate to intervene, etc. There does appear to be a growing focus on the processes involved in ensuring that folks are competent to administer their job responsibilities. While the list above gives you a sense of the “umbrella” under which organizationwide orientation provides a framework, the devil (as they say ) is in the details—and those details “live” at the department level.

To that end, it may be useful (if you are not already a participant in the department-level safety orientation) to “audit” some of the department programs to see if what folks are receiving matches up with what your expectations are of the entire orientation process. Most of the folks I’ve chatted with over time have found their “time” at orientation to be shrinking almost as quickly as those new pants in a hot water wash—it may be time to leverage some other opportunities to get the safety word out.

The other item for discussion relates to survey findings and the question of how much folks “expand” their surveillance in response to a survey finding. Minimally, you’re on the hook for resolving whatever the specific finding might be and now, with the submission of the corrective action plans to The Joint Commission (or whomever), there’s that whole concept of how you’re going to sustain the processes necessary to maintain compliance. Most of the action plans I’ve seen have a good framework for long-term monitoring, etc., but what about between right now and, say, next week? Or, even, next month? There seems to be a lot of follow-up surveying going on in the healthcare world and how far do you go to prepare for that potential “sooner than later” next visit. As with pretty much all of this stuff, there is very little in the way of guidance, but I was wondering if we could dig up some “best practices” in the name of (perhaps) introducing some non-EOC stuff into next year’s top 10 lists…just sayin’.

Have a most delightful week!

About the Author: Steve MacArthur is a safety consultant with The Greeley Company in Danvers, Mass. He brings more than 30 years of healthcare management and consulting experience to his work with hospitals, physician offices, and ambulatory care facilities across the country. He is also a contributing editor for Healthcare Safety Leader. Contact Steve at stevemacsafetyspace@gmail.com.