Incident Reports Helping to Save Lives
Latest Incident Reports showed a 5-fold increase in medium risk incidents.
Incident Reports are taken seriously at GSS. They can literally lead to life saving ideas as happened at SCS this fall.
Every quarter, the numbers of Incident Reports (IRs) at the different risk levels (low, medium, high, extreme) are compared. The July to September IRs showed a dramatic increase in medium-risk incidents from the April – June rate. What was happening?
Patterns showed a 5-fold increase in client overdoses at the SCS/Detox site. Considered a medium risk, overdose incidents went from 8 in April to June, to 46 in July to September. Another pattern was that most overdoses happened in the parking lot.
Staff were already taking quick action on overdoses but IRs are a key opportunity to learn from incidents and further reduce risks. What more could be done? Staff at the SCS/Detox site and the OHS Committee jumped right in with excellent ideas—some could be quickly acted on:
Because most overdoses happen outside and may happen at night, special reflective jackets were purchased and are kept at the door
Also, quick emergency response packs are ready for staff to grab as they go out
For more nighttime support, SCS is looking into buying head lamps and is talking to AHS about increased lighting in the parking lot
Overdose response equipment additions at the Detox site.
Staff skills are key to reducing overdose fatalities, though, and staff felt the standard naloxone training didn’t meet the complex needs of the site. That led to the SCS Registered Nurse taking action. In collaboration with the medical staff at both SCS and Detox, a new training course, tailored to the site, was developed. The training includes information specific to the tools available onsite.
What are the results of the training? Look at this chart comparing pre- and post-training levels of staff self-confidence in overdose response.
Site specific training shows self-confidence increase in responding to overdoses among SCS/Detox/POD teams.
SCS staff, already skilled, showed a limited increase but for Detox and POD staff, the training more than doubled levels of self-confidence. What a valuable program—for staff and for clients.
Congratulations to the training developers and thanks to the staff who continue to save lives at the SCS/Detox site. And thanks to all staff who continue to complete those important Incident Reports!