GOOD CATCH Staff members love to receive monthly prizes for noticing risk events that can result in patient harm.

"Good Catch" Program
Prize Patrol Helps Protect Patients

To improve patient safety, you first have to know where to focus your attention. Our "Good Catch" program asks staff members to submit forms that note near misses or actual adverse events (outpatientsurgery.net/forms). Staff often report their own good catches, but also turn in forms to recognize the efforts of their colleagues. Each employee who submits a form receives a raffle ticket in a monthly drawing for gift cards, thermal travel mugs or other small tokens of appreciation for their vigilant monitoring of patient safety.

The program has increased everyone's awareness of potential mistakes in patient care, both big and small. For example, one of our pre-op nurses noticed that a patient's right hand was being prepped for surgery when the physician's orders and surgical site confirmation paperwork noted the scheduled procedure was for the left hand. Members of the business office staff can also submit dictation errors or incorrect billing information that could financially harm patients. Before implementing the program, we received 4 to 5 reports a month. Now we receive more than 20, so we're more aware of patient safety issues that occur and need to be addressed.

Lacy McWhorter, RN, BSN, CCRN
Rockwall (Texas) Surgery Center
[email protected]