Read-back Improvement in Intensive Care Units – Cooperation for Sake of Patient Safety and Quality Improvement

Introduction: Critical values of laboratory tests are issue of life or death. immediate transfer of critical results to the ward by phone is essential but not entirely error free. In order to prevent errors and to improve patient safety and quality of care we adopted read-back procedure.

Methods: Improvement team including physicians and nurses and laboratory representatives established. The process led by the Quality Assurance (QA) Unit. Aims were:

- To establish effective practice of read back procedure

- To evaluate and adjust current values of critical results

- Create a working platform based on personal acquaintance of the problems and difficulties faced by both parties

Also periodical monitoring of read back documentation performed by QA unit in Intensive care units .T he results were published available to every employee and dispatched to the participating ICU`s and Hospital management.

Results: Quarterly performed monitoring of read back documentation in participating ICU`s performed from third quarter of 2013. In third quarter of 2013 read back documentation was 23.5% only, with marked improvement to 61% in fourth quarter. Further improvement to 70%, 76% and 87% in first, second and third quarter of 2014 respectfully was recorded. From the third quarter of 2014 until second quarter of 2015 the documentation rate achieved was between 85-87%.

Discussion: Combined approach of multidisciplinary improvement team with QA unit scheduled progress surveillance result in cooperation and continuous improvement. Employees are aware of the monitoring made by quality assurance unit and making effort to improve the results. As a result of the process patient safety and quality of care improving constantly.