Should Safety Checklist be a Standard of Care?

Posted by Michael Wong on September 14, 2012 · Leave a Comment 

Recently, the Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety (PPAHS), an advocacy group devoted to improving patient health and safety which I founded, announced the release of a concise safety checklist that reminds caregivers of the essential steps needed to be taken to initiate Patient-Controlled Analgesia (PCA) with a patient and to continue to assess that patient’s use of PCA.

Here are two healthcare experts opinion on the impact the PCA Safety Checklist will have on improving patient safety:

Frank Federico, RPh (Patient Safety Advisory Group at The Joint Commission and Executive Director at theInstitute for Healthcare Improvement):

Use and adherence with standardized processes for eligible patients leads to better clinical outcomes. The PPAHS PCA checklist lays out essential steps to be taken to initiate patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) with a patient and to continue to assess that patient’s use of PCA. Following these steps will help to increase patient safety and save lives.

Dr. Jason McKeown (Medical Director – Inpatient Pain Service, University of Alabama School of Medicine):

Checklist for PCA pumps should help optimize safety.

Do you think the PCA Safety Checklist should be a standard of care?

Filed under Better Thinking, Patient Safety · Tagged with pac, patient-controlled analgesia, PCA safety checklist, Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety, PPAHS