Huddling in New York City

It's National Patient Safety Week, and I was honored to be invited to Metropolitan Hospital Center in New York City to give a talk on clinical process improvement.  Before that, I had a chance to visit parts of the hospital to see some of their initiatives. 

Led by Chief of Service Gregory Almond, the Emergency Department has been looking at many of their processes.  One of the simplest and most effective steps was a decision to conduct huddles, not just once per day, but every two hours.  These might last only two or three minutes, but everyone is involved, including the security folks as well as clinicians.  Problems are identified, assignments are given, and follow-ups occur regularly.  The whole process is documented on a white board in real time, providing a visual cue to everyone on the floor as they walk by.

You see some of the protagonists above, including Irene Quinones, Patient Safety Associate; Jean-Paul Menoscal, Associate Chief of Service for Emergency Medicine; and Samrina Kahlon, the hospital's Patient Safety Officer.  (I'm pleased to report, too, that Samrina is an alumna of the 2012 Telluride Patient Safety Camp!  It's great to see her progress to such a position of responsiblility in a hospital.)