London hospital department employs WalkRounds™
Tuesday September 4, 2007 -- Natalie Miller
Ellen Rosen is making more of an effort these days to talk to frontline staff about patient safety issues on a regular basis.

The chair of the London Health Sciences Centre’s Patient Safety Council and vice-president of Women & Children's Services is implementing a program called ‘WalkRounds™’.

Rosen says though WalkRounds™ may seem simple, managers don't always have time to regularly communicate with frontline staff.

“It’s really important. You can get a better feel (for) patient safety and what the issues are,” says Rosen.

She says this initiative is geared at enhancing the culture of patient safety at the London Health Sciences Centre.

The Patient Safety WalkRounds™ involves senior leaders connecting with frontline staff to talk about matters pertaining to patient safety. Rosen has already started doing this in her department of the hospital and she intends to continue to do so, as she’s already getting feedback.

She says it involves spending about an hour to go to each area within her department. Rosen will report on the results internally at the hospital which will hopefully encourage others to take part and the program to be expanded, she says.

WalkRounds™ is a strategy designed to advance culture change in the area of patient safety. In an article about WalkRounds™, The Patient Safety WalkRounds™ concept involves a core group. The group includes the senior executives and/or vice-presidents who conduct weekly visits to different areas of the hospital.

“The group, joined by one or two nurses in the area and other available staff, asks specific questions about adverse events or near misses and about the factors or systems issues that led to these events,” the article states.

The events are entered into a database and classified according to the contributing factors.

“The data are aggregated by contributing factors and priority scores to highlight the root issues. The priority scores are used to determine QI pilots and make best use of limited resources.” Executives are then surveyed quarterly about actions they have taken as a direct result of WalkRounds™ and are asked what they have learned from the rounds.

At an upcoming patient safety summit hosted by the London Health Sciences Centre, participants can learn more about WalkRounds™ from Dr. Allan Frankel, Director of Patient Safety of the Partners Health Care System in Boston.

London Health Sciences Centre hosts the patient safety conference on Wednesday, Oct. 24 at the Four Points Sheraton in London. 

For more information about the summit, e-mail heni.dykstra@lhsc.on.ca.