Hi Everyone! Wondering if anyone knows of a good way to get adequate responses and corrective actions to errors. We try to be non punative in regards to errors, but the same errors occur over and over. An example would be when a hand written error occurs. I don't think it is difficult to line through the error and add date and initials. Same with write overs. There are other errors too that I encounter (not related to documentation) that seem to occur over and over. Just wondering what steps are taken at other facilities. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!!

There was a great AABB audioconference last december about this: "Should Employee Progressive Discipline, Deviation Management and Accountability be Linked?"

 

It's retrievable off the AABB webpage if you do a google search for that title, I think.

 

the main points to consider were:

 

is it a system/process problem? is it a training/competency problem? or is it just a behavior problem?

 

if it's either of the latter two, has the associate been given adequate opportunities to correct the problems? have they had retraining opportunities? are there tools in place for them to be successful?

 

then compile data - real data. as in if you're looking at documentation errors on a donor card for instance, how many donor cards are each of the associates involved with and what is the deviation rate when considering the amount of work that particular person and others are performing?

 

I highly recommend the presentation, it's the best one I've come across yet. It had a lot more useful information.

From my experience it is usually a process error or a tech rushing to complete something. But we do very little on paper these days so making corrections is electronic and I get a report of everything that was changed after it was verified.

If it's a behavioral issue (refusal to follow policy) then I proceed through verbal warning, written warning, suspension, etc.

If it's just "simple" errors, then involve the tech in their own corrective action. "How do you think you can fix this?"

Very important, as goodchild states above, to not blame the individual if it is a process error, a weakness in the process that caused the error. Then I try to get the whole team involved to look at it and come up with ideas to prevent this in the future.

I would emphasize, in general, that if you "keep getting the same errors over and over and over"  that you should look hard for a process error, or inadequate training.

 

Scott

Human Error Categories.docx  

 

And look for system issues that set people up for human errors.  There are certain things the human brain/body tends to mess up.  I will attach a list I created of what I think are basic human errors that we need to help ourselves prevent by how we design our systems.

 

I just LOVE the example you give for the "Volleyball/fly ball syndrome Mabel!!!!!!  Slightly too late by then I would think?

Thank you everyone for your input

Malcolm, we actually had a tragic plane crash of a family of pilots once from just this cause.