Accelerating Human Performance
in Healthcare Worldwide
Healthcare costs have been steadily rising over the past few years. Now more than ever it is vital for hospitals and clinics around the world to provide quality healthcare to patients while operating at the highest level of efficiency to ensure their financial health for years to come.
At Check-6®, we partner with companies dedicated to reducing human error. With a focus on optimizing human performance and team behaviors, we’re able to significantly improve procedural compliance and operational efficiency. Our proven methodology Performance Excellence®, a multifaceted foundation tailored to meet client objectives, reinforces vital behaviors that eliminate the main source of error resulting in improved human performance. By focusing on the people, we’re able to bring a level of accountability across organizations resulting in improved operational excellence.
Performance Excellence® Services:
-
Leadership Development and Mentoring Programs
-
Virtual Training Workshops
-
Operational Performance Assessments
-
Human Factors Awareness Training
-
Crew Resources Management (CRM) Workshops
-
High Reliability Operations (HRO) Campaigns
-
Organizational Alignment Consulting
-
Process and Procedural Optimization and Standardization
-
Safety and Compliance
Management of Change
Everyone has a specific vision for the future of their organization. With that vision comes many challenges that must be addressed in order to realize that vision. At Check-6, our consultants are the leading experts in understanding and improving Human Performance. They work closely with you and your team to provide customized solutions and measurable KPIs that address improving quality of care, increasing profitability while achieving operational excellence. Our clients trust us to cut through the complexity of these challenges in order to attain target outcomes and affect meaningful change in healthcare organizations.
At Check-6, we stand ready to assist organizations navigate through this unprecedented time offering these additional products and services:
COVID-19 Checklists
We are offering 3 checklists specific to managing risk during the COVID-19 in paper and digital format.
- Entry Point Screening for COVID-19
- Reducing Risk of Coronavirus Exposure in the Workplace
- Sanitizing from COVID-19 Virus
Meet David “Super Dave” Wassell our Chief Medical Advisor
Dr. Wassell has combined two very unique and challenging careers into a new role at Check-6 as Chief Medical Advisor. He is the son of a former fighter pilot, and always wanted to fly. In fact he soloed on his 16th birthday and earned his license the following year. “Super Dave” entered the Air Force Academy, majoring in military history. Following in his father’s footsteps, he became a fighter pilot, as an Instructor on the T-37.. He then flew with the Arkansas Air National Guard in Ft. Smith with the Flying Razorbacks, piloting the F-16, and flew combat missions over Bosnia as part of Operation Decisive Edge in 1996.
Super Dave decided to leave the cockpit and head to medical school, becoming an orthopedic surgeon. He is the Chief of Staff at Baptist Health Stuttgart in Arkansas. He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the Check-6 medical team. Close to $17 billion is spent on medical mistakes every year in the US, and some 100,000 people die as a result. He feels the medical field and community desperately need the cultural experience, knowledge and checklists that Check-6 can bring to help avoid mistakes and save lives.
The following is a white paper on checklist performance:
Intubation checklist performance in a simulation model
Background
Timely performance of life-saving critical procedures is a cornerstone of Emergency Medicine (EM). Airway management is an example of a procedure about which EM specialists must have both knowledge and technical skill. Endotracheal intubation (ETI), a fundamental airway management skill, is often performed in the ED without luxury of time for preparation of patients or equipment. The uncontrolled and time-critical nature of ED ETI, combined with the fact that the procedure itself can be technically difficult, translates into ED ETI’s representing a relatively high-risk situation for medical errors. Previous studies have shown value of checklists for other medical procedures (e.g. central venous access, surgery) also associated with patient safety risk.
Objectives
The study aimed to develop a checklist for ED ETI, and to assess the impact of use of the checklist during a simulated ETI on three endpoints: 1) Time required to complete ETI, 2) Success in completing required ETI critical actions, and 3) Operator perception of ETI safety and efficiency.
Methods
In a university-setting high-fidelity simulation lab, a case scenario consisting of a hypoxic/bradypneic adult was presented to a team of two EM residents and 2 ED nurses. The EM residents, who ranged in training from postgraduate year (PGY) 1 to PGY3, were randomly paired; no team contained residents from the same PGY year. Each team executed a rapid sequence ETI scenario with a difficult airway (i.e. the initial attempt was guaranteed to fail due to laryngospasm). Timing of the scenario’s execution included times required for teams to meet three a prior defined critical actions: 1) preoxygenation including apneic oxygenation with nasal cannula oxygen, 2) recognition of difficult airway/laryngospasm, and 3) recognition of, and response to, intra-ETI hypoxemia. Each team performed the scenario first using the checklist, and then again without use of the checklist (this approach was intended to assure any ordering bias was against the checklist). Critical action performance (including times required to complete all critical actions) was assessed during the simulation. Post-simulation survey of the residents assessed operators’ perceived utility of the checklist. Statistical analysis (STATA 13MP, StataCorp, College Station, TX) included assessment of central tendency using means with standard deviation and 95% confidence interval (CI); proportions were reported with binomial exact 95% CIs. Significance was set at the p < 0.05 level.
Results
All critical actions were met in both checklist and control simulations. The checklist facilitated airway simulation was associated with significantly shorter time intervals to complete each critical action (mean o f 12 vs. 27 seconds, p = .004). Post-simulation survey for the 20 pairs of residents executing the simulation revealed that 100% (97.5% onesided CI, 83-100%) indicated checklist use would reduce chances of medical errors during ED ETI.
Conclusion
In a high-fidelity simulation environment with a difficult airway, use of a checklist allowed operators to move approximately three times faster to meet airway related critical actions. These results, in addition to the unanimous indication by participating residents that checklists had a favorable impact on care, strongly suggest utility in continuing to assess checklist incorporation into selected ED procedures.
Authors:
Dan Himelic MD, Annette O. Arthur PharmD, Joshua Gentges DO, Boyd Burns DO, Stephen H. Thomas MD MPH
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
