Emergency departments celebrate 1,309 days of zero serious safety events

Staff and physicians in the Shoreline Medical Center (bottom photo) and Saint Raphael Campus EDs recently celebrated 1,309 days without a serious safety event.

The party might have been a little belated – but that just meant there was more to celebrate.

On Aug. 2, the Shoreline Medical Center and Saint Raphael Campus emergency departments marked 1,309 days (three years, seven months and one day) without a serious safety event (SSE).

The EDs officially joined the increasing number of Yale New Haven Hospital departments that have gone a year or more without an SSE, achieving the hospital’s high reliability organization goal of “Getting to Zero.”

“We have a highly engaged staff who understand what the HRO behaviors are about,” said Kevin Sigovitch, RN, SRC Emergency Department patient service manager. “Even in a fast-paced environment, they take the time to ensure they’re using the behaviors.”

“It takes complete dedication and commitment from the entire team to prevent harm,” said Ann Figoras, RN, patient service manager, Shoreline ED.

Patients are generally in the ED for hours vs. days or weeks, so their risk of experiencing certain SSEs might be lower. But other factors can impact patient safety, said Jeanie Haggan, RN, patient safety coordinator, ED.

“Zero serious safety events is a remarkable achievement for an ED, particularly given the volume, the pace and the complexity of patients we see,” she said. “At SRC and Shoreline, we’re treating patients of all ages, with all types of medical conditions.”