By Beth Allen
Some of the best ideas come as a response to a stressful situation. Banner Imaging has 27 separate outpatient facilities of various sizes and design. There are no code buttons to alert a team to come to the rescue like there is in an acute setting. When we have an emergency, we respond to the situation with our emergency supplies and an AED while having someone call 911 immediately.
Many of our offices were designed years ago. Some have secluded hallways or modalities that are away from the rest of our team. We are open extended hours and may have limited staff on site.
We had a critical situation in CT at one of our offices. Fortunately, everything turned out fine. Our team acted quickly and appropriately, and our patient recovered. At the moment that the CT tech needed immediate assistance, there just happened to be no one in the vicinity. She continued to yell for help while attending to a patient who suddenly became unresponsive. A team member did finally hear her and gathered more people to assist. EMS arrived extremely quickly and took over. Through this real-life scenario, we learned that we needed a better way to alert the rest of our team that someone needed help RIGHT NOW. Time moves very slowly when it appears no one is coming to assist.
We implemented the use of a very loud whistle. This isn’t a plastic toy whistle. This is a very loud emergency whistle and is Banner Imaging branded to identify it as a medical tool. Every employee was given a whistle to keep in their pocket or attach to their security badge. We removed the metal rings used to attach the whistle to a lanyard or badge for those working in MRI and found a plastic alternative.
We came up with a code of 3 short bursts on the whistle to alert the entire team that help is needed. Any available team member is trained to follow the sound of the whistle to render assistance. The team member in need continues to blow the short bursts, three at a time, until help arrives.
We tested these whistles and found they could be heard through the leaded doors and from isolated rooms. Our plan was recently put into action when a 90-year-old patient could not sit on the DXA table, so instead she just sat down on the floor. The technologist was unable to help the patient back up, so she blew her whistle in three short bursts. Three team members ran to help. Within a few minutes the patient was able to be helped to the table. The technologist did not have to leave the patient to find assistance. After seeing this in action, other team members were excited to get their whistles.
This has been a low-tech, low-cost solution that was able to be implemented quickly and easily. Our team has been very accepting of the new workflow, even though it has been in place for a short time. We have heard positive comments about how it provides a sense of support, since help is a whistle away. At first this idea sounded a little bit too simple, but the amount of time and expense it would take to install an emergency alert system in every room in every office is not reasonable.
This did not take long to organize and facilitate. Each new team member receives a whistle when they first report to their office as part of our onboarding process. This also should be uncomplicated to maintain. The whistles are also incorporated into our simulated code training. We remind our teams to use the whistle in the event of an emergency on our daily safety huddle and encourage our team members to always keep the whistle on them.
With all the sophisticated technology that we use every day, the emergence of AI and even communication devices introduced to us by the Jetsons, it is amazing that this solution would have worked in Wilhelm Roentgen’s X-ray lab.
Sometimes simple is best.
Thanks for all you do.
Beth Allen, CRA, RT(R)(CT), is the director of clinical operations at Banner Imaging.
