- Matt Morris
No more ‘average’ health techs!
When it comes to Q15 checks (safety checks) which statement feels right to you?
“My health techs are pretty good at their safety checks.”
or
“My health techs are not doing a great job with their Q15 safety checks.”
Wrong!
Based on our analysis of 100k+ observations, whichever statement you chose is probably incorrect, or at least an oversimplification. In fact, most units have high and low performing staff members. The trick is knowing who is who.
Unfortunately there are not great ways to measure safety performance.
Some options we see are:
Randomly spot check the Q15 sheets Looking for missed checks, pre-filled checks, signs of “pencil whipping”, etc.
Random video audit (if your unit has cameras) Looking for employees not conducting rounds appropriately (ie. not leaving nurses’ station, etc.)
This can be frustrating for managers who know that safety checks are a risk, but they don’t have reliable or scalable information to act on. This can be frustrating for health techs because some employees are perfect and they get lumped in with lower performers or the low performers are getting a free ride.
Take a quick look at this employee analysis. (names have been changed)
On the left, you have staff who were doing an excellent job of rounding and on the right are the lower-scored staff members. (tip: bubble size is related to the quantity of Q15s each staff member did)
We created this analysis alongside our partners at BHSET - (special thanks to Garrett Craver, AVP Behavioral Health). The employee scores consider items like missed checks, late checks, verified and unverified checks (were they close to the patient or not).
With information like this available, Garrett & his team can reward high-performers and work with lower performers to correct the pattern or reassign them accordingly. The BHSET team is even working with their HR department to integrate safety performance into their annual performance review, career path, and compensation structure.
For the deep dive (including how we constructed the staff performance algorithms) check out this article by VisibleHand CEO, Matt. DEEP DIVE
If you’re using paper and want to learn about the analog options you may have to measure safety, reach out to us. We would love to learn more about your challenges and help optimize your paper Q15 processes. Get in touch: info@visiblehand.io
If you’re interested in learning more about VisibleHand safety rounding system that enables this level of analysis you can head to our website to learn more.
Website: www.visiblehand.com