effective methods for preventing and managing anaesthetic incidents

Effective methods for preventing and managing anaesthetic incidents

Adjunct Professor Martin D. CulwickAustralian and New Zealand Tripartite Anaesthetic Data Committee

Royal Brisbane & Women’s Hospital

Preventing ErrorsCurrent Methods

◦ Report Incident Locally◦ Hold Morbidity & Mortality meetings +/- RCA◦ Local guidelines and education process◦ Report to WebAIRS Registry◦ Guidelines and Publications from ANZCA, ASA

& NZSA◦ Publish in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care◦ Education◦ Simulation

Will this eliminate Errors? (1) Yes (2) No (3) Not Sure

Errors – Main Categories

Qual Saf Health Care. 2010 Dec;19(6):e63. Epub 2010 Jul 29.System-wide learning from root cause analysis: a report from the New South Wales Root Cause Analysis Review Committee.Taitz J, Genn K, Brooks V, Ross D, Ryan K, Shumack B, Burrell T, Kennedy P; NSW RCA Review Committee.Source: Clinical Excellence Commission, Martin Place, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. jonny.taitz@sesiahs.health.nsw.gov.auAbstractBACKGROUND: Preventable errors are common in healthcare. Over the last decade, Root Cause Analysis (RCA) has become a key tool for healthcare services to investigate adverse events and try to prevent them from happening again. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the work of the New South Wales (NSW) RCA Review Committee. The benefits of correctly classifying, aggregating and disseminating RCA data to clinicians will be discussed. In NSW, we perform an average of 500 RCAs per year. It is estimated that each RCA takes between 20 and 90 h to perform. In 2007, the NSW Clinical Excellence Commission (CEC) and the Quality and Safety Branch at the Department of Health constituted an RCA review committee. 445 RCAs were reviewed by the committee in 14 months. 41 RCAs were related to errors in managing acute coronary syndrome.RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The large number of RCAs has enabled the committee to identify emerging themes and to aggregate the information about underlying human (staff), patient and system factors. The committee has developed a taxonomy based on previous work done within health and aviation and assesses each RCA against this set of criteria. The effectiveness of recommendations made by RCA teams requires further review. There has been conjecture that staff do not feel empowered to articulate root causes which are beyond the capacity of the local service to address.CONCLUSION: Given the number of hours per RCA, it seems a shame that the final output of the process may not in fact achieve the desired patient safety improvements.

Downloaded 8/5/11 from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20671073?dopt=AbstractPlus

Factors: Wrong Dose – Overdose

Accidentally giving the wrong dose◦Paediatric◦Injecting whole syringe◦Combination with Syringe swap

Syringe driver programming error◦mg/kg/min instead of mcg/kg/min◦Propofol TCI versus Remi TCI

Dilution error

Factors with Insulin DilutionUnfamiliarityInexperience with making up an

insulin syringePresentation of insulin

From presentation: Prime Suspects – Dr.Genevieve Goulding 2011

Anaesthetic drugs are expressed as dose/ampoule e.g. fentanyl 100mcg in 2 mls

Error is to assume that the insulin ampoule is 100 units in 10mls

Two person check not performed prior to dilution

Factors with InsulinWhy 1000u/10 mls?Why labelled 100u/mlDesigned for s.c. use by a trained personUsually self administeredUsually use insulin syringe marked in units

How to fix this problem ?

Fix it once ?Fix it twice ?Fix it multiple times ?

How many times?

Current Status: Fix Once

Actual status: Fixing multiple times

Evidence is that “Fix Once” has temporary and local effectiveness for this particular problem

Fix everything two ways

Technical support – softwareProgrammers take to calls

◦ Immediate workaround◦Fix the software

Cost◦Normal tech support $10/call◦Programmer $50/call◦Normal tech $10 x hundreds of calls with

no permanent fix

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http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/customerservice.htm

Fix it two ways Insulin Dilution1. Tell everyone to be careful

◦ Next M & M meeting◦ Every change of junior staff◦ Have a written guideline with

instructions◦ Two person check◦ Monitor blood glucose in diabetics

2. What to do for the second way ?◦ Pharmacy to pre-prepare the infusions ◦ Change the ampoule◦ Improve labelling

Insulin dilution

Insulin dilution

From presentation: Prime Suspects – Dr.Genevieve Goulding 2011

Insulin dilution

From presentation: Prime Suspects – Dr.Genevieve Goulding 2011

Other examples of two ways

Checklists + targeted education

Change of environmentEquipment changeWorkflow and process redesign

Management AlgorithmsAcronyms Crisis ManualOn line reference tool

◦Smart Phone◦Tablet◦Notebook◦Desktop

WebAIRS – Incident Knowledge Base (in development)

Screenshot from demonstration program (not approved for release)

WebAIRS – Incident Knowledge Base (in development)

Screenshot from demonstration program (not approved for release)

WebAIRS – Incident Knowledge Base (in development)

Screenshot from demonstration program (not approved for release)

WebAIRS – Incident Knowledge Base (in development)

Screenshot from demonstration program (not approved for release)

WebAIRS – Incident Knowledge Base (in development)

Screenshot from demonstration program (not approved for release)

WebAIRS – Incident Knowledge Base (in development)

Screenshot from demonstration program (not approved for release)

WebAIRS – Incident Knowledge Base (in development)

Screenshot from demonstration program (not approved for release)

WebAIRS – Incident Knowledge Base (in development)

Screenshot from demonstration program (not approved for release)

ConclusionBuild a safety culturePromote anaesthetic

incident recordingImplement safety

solutions to prevent harm

Fix it Twice (Peer reviewed article later this year)

On line knowledge base to assist with incident management