Sharing Knowledge

It’s getting close to becoming a year since I came to live in Sierra Leone and, looking back, so much has happened. I’ve come such a long way since I arrived at Freetown Airport in Lungi. The biggest milestone in my journey is the presentation I gave to the Holy Spirit Hospital Staff last week. Every Friday, a staff member is selected to give a presentation to the entire hospital about a certain subject. It’s a way to keep people updated about the latest medical information.

My presentation was about Medication Safety and Error Prevention. I had seen many areas for improvement at the hospital and found this a very valuable opportunity to provide some insight into this subject based on what I have seen both in America and Sierra Leone. I mostly used models based on what I had learned in school, but a few of the tools and models I had been taught were not very applicable to Sierra Leoneans.

For example, in school and at my old job, I had learned about the Swiss Cheese Model. The Swiss Cheese Model demonstrates how hospitals can have many safety protocols and policies in place to prevent medication errors; however, these preventative measures are never perfect, and mistakes can slip though the defensive layers and by strengthening these layers, the holes become smaller and fewer medication errors can occur. Dairy is not a big food product here with most of the locals. They have many goats and cows, but they don’t milk them. They only have powdered milk. And cheese is not a common food product either. I figured a model based on a lesser known food product wouldn’t be a good model for my audience. So, I made my own model! I call it, “The Mosquito Model”. Instead of slices cheese with holes in them, I compared safety protocols to protective measures used to prevent mosquito bites, such as insect repellent, mosquito nets, and long-sleeved clothing. These help prevent getting malaria from mosquito bites; however, they are not full proof. A mosquito could fly through a tear in the net or there could be a hole in the clothes, so these layers need to be strengthened. I think this model made much more sense to my coworkers. I got many compliments on the model.

 

Many nurses and staff requested I make posters to hang around the unit with the safety protocols I talked about, such as the 5 Rights of Medication Administration and Closed Loop Communication. Everyone really liked the Closed Loop Communication example I gave with volunteers from the audience. Closed Loop Communication is when one person gives a message to a second person, and that person repeats what the first person said back to them to confirm they heard the message correctly, and the first person either verifies that it was correct, or they clarify what the person misheard. I had noticed that lack of communication is a huge issue in the hospital. I really want to do a workshop with staff to practice Closed Loop Communication or other communication improvement methods.

 

This week I’ve been focusing on preparing the house because I am getting a new house mate! Her name is Kathy and you guys should check out her blog on our LMH website! I’m really excited to meet her. She gets here tomorrow! Pray that she has a safe flight and that I’m able to give her a warm welcome to life here in Salone!