The Department of Defense (DoD) Patient Safety Program (PSP) eBulletin delivers patient safety updates, news, useful tips and resources to help you deliver the highest quality of care to your patients. This month, we showcase how Patient Safety Awareness Week was celebrated around the DoD in March, introduce the PSP’s new Global Trigger Tool implementation guide, highlight how learning partnerships are improving patient safety across the services and salute Military Health System nurses!

Announcements and Reminders

• In May, the Military Health System’s theme is Mental Health.
• The deadline to apply for TeamSTEPPS Advanced Courses is May 19. Learn more about these courses>>
• The 19th Annual National Patient Safety Foundation Patient Safety Congress is May 17-19 in Orlando. Learn how to register>>
• The DoD PSP will host a webinar on May 23 about the Global Trigger Tool and the new guidebook designed to provide patient safety professionals with information about implementation and measurement. Learn how to register>>
• The TeamSTEPPS National Conference is June 14-16 in Cleveland. Learn how to register>>
• Don’t forget to submit a nomination for the Advancement toward High Reliability in Healthcare Awards Program by 4 p.m. EDT on Aug. 1. Learn more about the awards>>
• Clean Your Hands Campaign, Nurse’s Week and National Healthcare Risk Management Week are among other awareness observations that are coming up. Follow the PSP Facebook page for related content.
• The next eBulletin will be released in July 2017.
• Do you have questions about the Continuing Education process? We can help! E-mail us.
• Do you have an update from your facility? Let us know via e-mail or Facebook.

Feature: Patient Safety Awareness Week Around the DoD

Patient Safety Awareness Week was March 12-18, 2017 and offered an opportunity to recognize the importance of quality care and patient safety throughout the Military Health System (MHS) by unifying military treatment facilities (MTFs) to use best practices to ensure consistent delivery of care to service members… Feature: Patient Safety Awareness Week Around the DoD.

Patient Safety In Action: Deploying A New Tool to Identify Adverse Events, Improve Patient Safety

The Military Health System (MHS) will deploy a new patient safety monitoring tool and measurement strategy to support high reliability efforts enterprise-wide. Developed by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), the Global Trigger Tool (GTT) will be fielded to… Patient Safety In Action: Deploying A New Tool to Identify Adverse Events, Improve Patient Safety.

HRO Corner: Learning to Accelerate High Reliability Transformation

The Military Health System’s (MHS) partnership with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) is a key component to helping the MHS transform into a high reliability organization (HRO). Through this relationship, military treatment facilities (MTFs) are collaborating… HRO Corner: Learning to Accelerate High Reliability Transformation.

Celebrating Nurses, Every Day Patient Safety Champions

Thousands of nurses in the Military Health System (MHS) are being honored this month during Nurse’s Week, May 6-12. Nurses are critical members of health care teams and influence the quality of care and patient safety in military treatment facilities worldwide. Many nursing responsibilities may become… Celebrating Nurses, Every Day Patient Safety Champions.

DoD PSP Treasure Chest: May Edition

Welcome to the May edition of the DoD PSP Treasure Chest! 

Each issue, we share resources to help you execute your day-to-day patient safety activities easily and effectively. Please visit us often and get access to tools and information developed with… DoD PSP Treasure Chest: May Edition.

MHS Patient Safety Data Snapshot

The MHS Patient Safety Data Snapshot is a monthly compilation of two types of patient safety data:

1) Sentinel Event (SE) notifications submitted to the Patient Safety Analysis Center (PSAC)

2) Anonymous, voluntarily reported patient safety events via the web-based incident reporting system known as JPSR

This publication provides an MHS enterprise-level snapshot of trends in SEs and JPSR events so that providers and health care administrators can help identify areas for patient safety improvement in their facility and throughout the MHS.

Visit the Patient Safety Learning Center (PSLC) to access the latest MHS Patient Safety Data Snapshot, available on the 15th of every month.

*Please visit the PSAC page of the PSLC to access and download this publication.

MHS Patient Safety Spotlight

The MHS Patient Safety Spotlight is a resource designed to highlight best practices and interesting initiatives that come from the field and are worthy of being shared across the enterprise. This resource features data-driven examples of improvement and case studies that tackle specific problems with specific solutions.

Visit the Patient Safety Learning Center (PSLC) to access the latest MHS Patient Safety Spotlight, available on the 15th of every month.

*Please visit the PSAC page of the PSLC to access and download this publication.

Upcoming Events

Patient Safety Learning Circles

In-person or Web-based forums focused on a specific topic.

TeamSTEPPS Webinar – Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)

Please check our Calendar of Events for updates on this webinar.

The Joint Commission

There are multiple opportunities to attend accreditation and certification webinars offered by The Joint Commission.

Learn more at the Joint Commission web site>>

The High Stakes of Health Care Policy – Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI)

May 3, 2017 from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. EDT

Speakers:

• John E. McDonough, DrPH, MPA, professor of practice, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health
• John B. Chessare, MD, MPH, president and CEO, GMBC Healthcare (Baltimore)

Learn more about this learning opportunity>>

An Insider’s Look at Drug Name Development: Working to Put Look-Alike/Sound-Alike Drug Name Problems Behind Us – Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP)

May 4, 2017 from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. EDT

Over the last few decades, through safety protocols that involve practitioner testing of proposed brand names, progress has been made to bring safety to the drug naming process. Along with technological improvements like electronic prescribing and bar code scanning, success has also been realized with reducing the potential for drug name-related errors. Still, several challenges remain.

This program is free and will take participants down the naming pathway; the road to development of a new drug brand name. Not widely known by most health care providers, participants will hear first-hand from several experts including a global pharmaceutical company, medication safety company, and the Food and Drug Administration, about the role each plays in the drug name development process.

Moderator:

• Michael Cohen, RPh, MS, ScD(hon), DPS(hon), FASHP

Speakers:

• Dorothy Linvill-Neal, Novartis
• Susan Proulx, PharmD, Med-ERRS
• Lubna Merchant, FDA

Learn more about this learning opportunity>>

Improving Patient Safety in Primary Care: Strategies to Engage Patients and Families – National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF)**

May 11, 2017 from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. EDT

This complimentary webinar will discuss the threats to patient safety in primary care settings, interventions to engage patients and families to improve patient safety.

This event is eligible for one continuing education credit for the Certified Professional in Patient Safety (CPPS) recertification.

Speakers:

• Margie Shofer, BSN, MBA, director, Patient Safety Portfolio, Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety (CQUIPS), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
• Kelly Smith, PhD, co-principal investigator, Guide to Improving Patient Safety in Primary Care Settings by Engaging Patients and Families; director of Quality and Safety Research, MedStar Health

Learn more about this learning opportunity>>

Seven Popular Improvement Tools: How (and when) to use them – Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI)

May 18, 2017 from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. EDT

Speakers:

• David Williams, PhD, executive director, IHI
• Susan Hannah, Head of Improvement Programmes – Early Years Collaborative & Raising Attainment for All, Scottish Government

Learn more about this learning opportunity>>

Are You Ready for the Global Trigger Tool? – DoD Patient Safety Program

May 23, 2017 from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. EDT

This webinar will focus on the "Global Trigger Tool in the Military Health System: An Implementation Guide for Inpatient Facilities," a new PSP resource designed to provide MHS patient safety professionals and health care professionals with an understanding of the GTT, how it will be implemented, and how to use the GTT data to measure, trend and prevent harm.

Learn more about this learning opportunity>>

The Joint Commission’s Tracer Methodology: A Tool for Continuous Improvement – ECRI Institute

May 25, 2017 from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. EDT

Speakers:

• Mary C. Magee, MSN, RN, CPHQ, CPPS, senior patient safety/quality analyst, ECRI Institute
• Mary Parsons-Snyder, MBA, RN, patient safety analyst, ECRI Institute

For more information on registering for this webinar, please e-mail TQMC@ECRI.org or call (610) 825-6000, ext. 5800.

Patient Safety Workshops

Instructor-led or self-paced online learning sessions focused on a specific product.

On-Demand eLearning: Patient Safety Reporting System v1.01 eLearning Course

This course introduces basic navigation and functionality features of the JPSR system and the roles of system users, such as event reporters, event handlers and investigators. Access the course through MHS Learn.

Register now

On-Demand eLearning: Patient Safety Reporting: Intermediate Course*

Targeted to patient safety managers and other military treatment facility (MTF) staff already familiar with basic functionalities of the Joint Patient Safety Reporting System, this course will help learners hone the decision-making skills needed to effectively manage patient safety event data in JPSR as part of the ongoing effort to eliminate preventable harm at MTFs.

Register now

On-Demand eLearning: Root Cause Analysis*

This self-paced module outlines the DoD Patient Safety Program’s suggested practices for conducting a root cause analysis (RCA), from the initial reporting of a patient safety event through the formation of the RCA Team to the identification of contributing factors and root causes and the recommendation of corrective actions.

Register now

* Denotes that activity is eligible for Continuing Education (CE) credit. All CE credits are managed by the Postgraduate Institute for Medicine (PIM).

**Did you know? As an NPSF Stand Up for Patient Safety member, DoD PSP receives complimentary access to webinars as a benefit of program membership. Check with your facility POC to obtain the member coupon code.