Mount Sinai West Emergency Department

New York, New York

The “BeSAFE” training program created in the Mount Sinai West emergency department was designed in collaboration with behavioral health to be a universal precaution to prevent injuries from workplace violence. Three team members began the planning process by determining the basics to keep everyone safe, which led to universal precautions for safety and education for all emergency department team members. This has been established as a best practice and is now part of hospital orientation for everyone who starts in the health system. BeSAFE includes scene safety, identification of the stages of violence, and physical safety techniques.

The department also implemented virtual patient observation using ceiling- mounted cameras instead of utilizing staff to observe patients for safety risk, the first hospital in its system to do so. The criteria included patients able to be redirected and able to follow directions and those who may be at risk for fall, elopement, and removing lines and tubes. After implementation of VPO, two metrics were impacted. Door-to-EKG rate improved by an average of 10 percent during implementation and falls reduced on average of 3 per month. Patient satisfaction scores in ”nurses’ attention to your needs” increased by 1.5 percent with the intervention.