S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y. N E T • 7 7
throughout the day with items for the person who updates the
daily board to include. Many of the ideas discussed at the daily
huddles become agenda items at the larger meeting of the com-
pany's safety committee. "Our team came up with the idea for the
board, so they own it," says Ernest A. Brizuela, RN, the facility's
director of nursing. "I think that's a big part of why it works so
well."
• Problems and solutions.
Sherrie Cisneros, MSN, RN-BC,
attended last year's OR
Excellence conference in Fort
Lauderdale, Fla., and returned
to her California facility with an
actionable step she implement-
ed immediately: The PAS Sheet,
a communication tool for
improving staff and patient safe-
ty.
"PAS means Problem And Solution, and that's all it means,"
says Ms. Cisneros, nurse manager of outpatient surgery & pre-
admit testing at Pomona (Calif.) Valley Hospital Medical Center.
"No blame. No pointing fingers. It's not an incident report.
Nothing punitive comes from it."
Team members are often reluctant to put safety issues in writ-
ing for fear of getting others or themselves in trouble, or are too
busy to bring potential problems to a supervisor's attention. The
PAS sheet helps managers hear about issues soon after they
occur.
• FEEDBACK FORM The PAS Sheet lets staff share safety-
related concerns without fear of retribution.
Sherrie
Cisneros,
MSN,
RN-BC