Heartbeat: Neonates are latest team to launch safety huddles
February 8, 2022
The back end of last year saw the neonates team get on board the safety huddles train. Running seven a days a week straight after the board round, the huddles are led by the dedicated shift lead who ensures the huddles run effectively.
The safety huddles are attended by representatives from the multidisciplinary team which includes doctors, nurses, advanced neonatal nurse practitioners, pharmacists, ward clerks and ward services officers.
Ward Manager Chinazam (Chichi) Anyaebosim explained the importance of implementing safety huddles on the unit. She said: “The neonatal unit provides a wide range of services by different teams and involving many external agencies. It is incredibly important for us to be able to provide the latest update to the carers of our babies with great consistency, from the front door to after discharge.”
Chichi told us that the safety huddles have been very well received. “Plenty of the benefits have been realised immediately. Safety huddles strengthen the communication among individual teams continuously. Everybody brings in something useful at every huddle. For example, all medical and clinical teams ensure the latest update regarding the care of our babies are fully communicated to Kath Laise our ward clerk, so that she can have a very clear overview across the whole unit enabling her to disseminate this critical information to carers, other departments within the trust as well as the external agencies.
“The increased pressure from COVID-19 leads to plenty of last-minute changes and staffing issues from various teams. Safety huddles have been a great platform for us to ensure that everyone on duty is on the same page,” Chichi added.
Kath couldn’t agree more. She said: “Due to the complexity of the services our unit provides, it has always been challenging to update everyone with the latest state of all the babies under our care. Safety huddles have been a great platform for me to gain an overview of the whole unit effectively.
“The past two years have been beyond challenging to many of us. The safety huddles give me an opportunity to support my team members, babies and their families further, to provide a good service in a forever changing period of time via great team efforts.”
Dr Penny Broggio, Consultant Paediatrician, Clinical Lead for Neonates said: “Safety huddles have helped improve communications hugely, enabling the team to identify risks and to initiate mitigation more proactively. Safety huddles are a fantastic platform for us to enhance our collaboration and cohesiveness. Our patient flow has improved since the launch of the huddles.”
Rasekhuta Phil Velempini, Matron Neonates further explained: “Safety huddles have initiated a changing mind-set to the team leading to a more cohesive and supportive working environment. Colleagues are feeling more comfortable in making suggestions/ asking questions to improve patient care.”
The membership of the neonatal safety huddles is growing with the new Neonatal Community Outreach Team (NCOT) already agreeing to join the daily huddles. The NCOT team leader and Chichi have even agreed the specific NCOT elements to be part of the neonatal safety huddles checklist. Occupational therapy is joining the huddles soon too.
Neonates has started looking into the introduction of the long-term quality improvement projects to enhance patient safety as well as utilising the electronic screens to promote the ‘single source of information’ across the unit with great transparency and timeliness.