Top 5 Tips for Patient Safety

Every week at each of our partner facilities, our team members and management staff review a specific safety tip of the week. HHS places electronic message boards (EMBs) in every account we serve, which provides a platform to deliver consistent messaging and important updates from our home office and regional leadership to all of our accounts. In addition to sharing safety tips, we also provide company-wide updates, success stories from around the country, and HCAHPS scores, as well as daily weather forecasts and other local account information.

This week, in honor of Patient Safety Awareness Week, we’d like to share some of our favorite tips for creating a clean and safe hospital environment for our team members, customers and of course for our patients. These tips are displayed digitally on EMBs and discussed during our teams' daily huddles.

HHS’ Top 5 Patient Safety Tips:

1. Prior to mopping, always place wet floor signs to provide ample notice to those who might enter an area with a wet floor. Remove the signs once an area is dry.
2. Park your cart and trashcans on the same side of the hall to allow safe passage. Keep equipment and cleaning supplies off the floor whenever possible.
3. Report improperly or poorly lit areas and burned out lighting to a supervisor as soon as possible.
4. Continually monitor the outside entry points for neat first impression and potential hazards. During inclement weather, check entrances for slick spots and place caution signs where needed.
5. Carry trash bags with one gloved hand and use a clean ungloved bad to press buttons and open doors.