"An ounce of prevention": Error prevention in nuclear medicine: Recognition and review

Learning Objectives Various issues can occur in the fast paced daily practice of nuclear medicine which can result in possible errors, most commonly due to failures in communication. Errors can occur from the time the patient enters the nuclear department, including during diagnosis and treatment. The responsibility of safety rests with individuals in the entire healthcare organization, with active communication in the department. Understanding and prevention of errors is solution rather than dealing with such errors after they occur, resulting in improved patient care. We will present many of these issues and solutions in a pictorial poster review.

We discuss the fact that many potential errors can occur in the daily practice of nuclear medicine. We discuss the importance and methods of prevention and detection of possible errors which include: -Patient identification issues: We discuss various methods to obtain and confirm identification for patient examinations. -Correct site procedure issues: We discuss ways to identify and confirm that you are performing a study on correct side of the body -Importance of Time Outs: -Detection of Expired products in nuclear department -Issues of Hot Lab Safety and NRC safety issues -How to recognize and deal with errors when they occur -Service recovery in Nuclear Medicine: Dealing with the unhappy patient -Issues with informed consent and language issue conflicts in nuclear medicine -Issues of continued education to all members of the healthcare team for earlier prevention and detection of errors -Discussion of "checklists" in nuclear medicine to help prevent errors -Importance of getting a complete patient history, which includes medications, surgeries and family history, allergies,etc. We also integrate the National Quality Forum endorsed "30 safe practices" as it applies to the practice of nuclear medicine