February safety behavior: Ask clarifying questions
During February, USA Health employees are encouraged to practice a new safety behavior.
As part of the Safety Starts with Me initiative, USA Health employees are being encouraged to learn and practice a new safety behavior and tool of the month starting Feb. 1: Speak up for safety by asking clarifying questions.
“Clarifying questions are used when something does not make sense to you, you are lacking information or have conflicting information,” said Becky Pomrenke, R.N., M.S.N., patient safety manager for USA Health. “Asking clarifying questions can reduce the risk of making an error by 2 ½ times.”
Consider this example: You discussed the time of an event with someone, concluding that the event will start at 12 p.m. Later you receive follow-up information that describes the start time as 1 p.m. Using the February safety behavior, you would go back to the person who sent the conflicting information to clarify whether the start time was changed or printed incorrectly.
Pomrenke said the safety and reliability phrase to use with this tool is: “I have a clarifying question.”
“Make sure to phrase the question or questions in a manner that will give you an answer that improves your understanding,” she said.
