Preventing Medical Errors for Florida SLPs

Preventing Medical Errors in Speech-Language Pathology is a new 2-hour online continuing education (CE/CEU) course that examines how medical errors can be prevented in the practice of speech-language pathology.

Preventing Medical Errors in Speech-Language Pathology is a 2-hour online CEU course for Florida SLPs.

The intent of this course is to include all of the elements required for an approved medical errors course for speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and audiologists, including topics and case examples that will resonate with both novice and seasoned clinicians. It is a required course for Florida licensees and satisfies their biennial requirement. It is intended to be of clinical interest to all SLPs and audiologists who wish to increase their awareness of the ways in which patients can be harmed and the many strategies for anticipating and avoiding such undesirable outcomes.

This course addresses the impact of medical errors on today’s health care with a focus on root cause analysis, error reduction and prevention, and patient safety. Multiple scenarios of real and potential errors in the practice of speech-language pathology and audiology across the continuum of practice are included, along with recommended strategies for preventing them. Evidence shows that the most effective error prevention occurs when a partnership exists among care facilities, health care professionals, and the patients they treat. Course #21-31 | 2019 | 45 pages | 15 posttest questions

Click here to learn more.

CE INFORMATION

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This course is offered for 0.2 ASHA CEUs (Introductory level, Professional area). 

ASHA credit expires 2/25/2024. ASHA CEUs are awarded by the ASHA CE Registry upon receipt of the quarterly completion report from the ASHA Approved CE Provider (#AAUM5150). Please note that the date that appears on ASHA transcripts is the last day of the quarter in which the course was completed. Professional Development Resources is also approved by the Florida Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, the Ohio Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, and is CE Broker compliant (#50-1635). 

Click here to learn more.

Professional Development Resources is a nonprofit educational corporation 501(c)(3) organized in 1992. We are approved to sponsor continuing education by the American Psychological Association (APA); the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB); the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA); the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA); the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR); the Alabama State Board of Occupational Therapy; the Florida Boards of Social Work, Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy, Psychology & School Psychology, Dietetics & Nutrition, Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, and Occupational Therapy Practice; the Georgia State Board of Occupational Therapy; the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors (#MHC-0135); the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker & MFT Board and Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology; the South Carolina Board of Professional Counselors & MFTs; the Texas Board of Examiners of Marriage & Family Therapists and State Board of Social Worker Examiners; and are CE Broker compliant (all courses are reported within a few days of completion).

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Florida SLP CEU Requirements

From the Florida Board of Speech-Language Pathology

Online CEUs for Florida SLPs

Florida-licensed Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) have an upcoming license renewal deadline of December 31, 2015. The following continuing education (CEU) requirements must be met and reported to CE Broker before a licensee will be allowed to renew:

CE Required: 30 hours every 2 years (50 if dual-licensed), of which:
2 hours on Preventing Medical Errors are required each renewal
1 hour on HIV/AIDS is required for your first renewal only
Online CE Allowed: No limit if ASHA-approved
License Renewal Deadline: December 31, 2015

Florida SLPs can earn all 30 hours required for renewal through online courses offered by Professional Development Resources, an ASHA-approved provider of online CEUs.
Click here to view ASHA-approved online CEU courses.

PDR reports all course completions to CE Broker for you – so you don’t have to! Now that your CE course completions must be reported to CE Broker before you renew, getting started early is more important than ever.

Save 20% now on your required CE – over 20 courses to choose from. Your discount should automatically apply at checkout – but if for any reason it doesn’t, just enter code PDRPC241 and click apply to redeem.

Automatically Reports to CE Broker

Professional Development Resources is approved by the Continuing Education Board of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA Provider #AAUM) to provide continuing education activities in speech-language pathology and audiology.

We can report to ASHA for you, as long as you check ‘yes’ to ASHA reporting in your account profile. We report to ASHA quarterly and the completion date that appears on your ASHA transcript is the last day of the quarter, regardless of when you completed your course.

We are also approved by the Florida Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology (Provider #50-1635) and are CE Broker compliant (all courses are reported within 1 week of completion).

 

Preventing Medical Errors in Speech-Language Pathology

By Susan Mitchell, PhD; Leo Christie, PhD; Gina Ulery, MS

Preventing Medical Errors in Speech-Language PathologyAs a speech-language professional, what’s the first medical error that comes to mind when you think of a critical incident? Most likely, not a hernia operation. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, documented the following case of a routine hernia surgery resulting in a TIA, aspiration and ultimately death:

An elderly man, post hernia surgery, had a transient ischemic attack (TIA) and respiratory difficulties. His speech prior to surgery had been normal but was now slurred. He was also choking on thin liquids. The neurologist examined the patient and recommended a swallowing study. A speech-language pathologist (SLP) evaluated the patient, found him to be at high risk for aspiration, and completed a consultation form recommending NPO status. However, the physician did not see the form, and the patient continued to receive thickened liquids. Two days later, the patient suddenly aspirated, arrested, and died.

Within one hour of the patient’s death, the hospital reviewed the case. The critical incident resulted in changes to the protocol for swallowing evaluations. As part of the updated protocol, the physician “pre-authorizes” an NPO order, and the SLP is authorized to write the NPO order if the bedside swallowing evaluation is suspicious for the risk of aspiration. However, the deadly outcome for this patient had already occurred.

The AHRQ documentation detailed a number of reasons for this tragic error. As in most medical errors, the failure cannot be attributed to a single party. In this case, the critical error had its roots in the failure of both written and verbal communication. First, the SLP did not consider the NPO recommendation important enough to contact the physician immediately, and thus she did not verbally communicate the recommendation to the physician. Second, the hospital protocol resulted in sequestering her consultation form with the NPO recommendation in a special section of the chart, not in the core daily progress notes that all physicians read regularly. Third, the physician did not read the SLP’s consultation form and act upon the recommendation.

The AHRQ commentary further notes, “Medical errors and accidents due to communication mishaps are complex and multifaceted. In this case, liability could be attributed to the physician, the speech therapist, and the nurses caring for the patient. All of them failed to communicate and/or receive critical medical information, and their failure led to the patient’s aspiration. This means that we need to be careful that, after an accident investigation or root-cause analysis, we don’t design protocols that prevent only the specific error from happening again. In this case, an NPO order was the problem, but the root cause analysis revealed general problems with communication. The chance that another patient will die due to lack of a timely NPO order is relatively small.

However, the chance that problems in inter-professional communication will cause other adverse events is high. The institution needs to make sure it does something about the latter, not just the former.”

The Joint Commission Safety Goals include a number of recommended steps to prevent error. Of these, “to improve the effectiveness of caregiver communication” is the one identified by ASHA (2010a) in its website publication, Patient Safety and the SLP (http://www.asha.org/slp/PatientSafety.htm), as the one that affects SLPs and audiologists the most. “This goal requires implementing a process of verifying verbal or telephone orders by having the individual receiving the order read it back.”

Virtually all of the consumers (96%) said hospitals should be required to report medical errors to state health departments. Currently most states (including Florida) do not disclose facility-specific information to the public about mistakes. Yet 82% want each hospital’s medical error record to be available to the public. According to a study in Health Affairs (Classsen et al., 2011), hospital errors are more common than suspected…ten times more common. Medical errors and other adverse events occur in one-third of hospital admissions according to the authors. The more you look for errors, the more you will find.

Preventing Medical Errors in Speech-Language Pathology

2-Hour Online CE Course

Preventing Medical Errors in Speech-Language Pathology is a 2-hour online continuing education (CE/CEU) course that addresses the impact of medical errors on today’s healthcare with a focus on root cause analysis, error reduction and prevention, and patient safety. Multiple scenarios of real and potential errors in the practice of speech-language pathology are included, along with recommended strategies for preventing them. Evidence shows that the most effective error prevention occurs when a partnership exists among care facilities, health care professionals, and the patients they treat. Suggested strategies for preventing errors address all three elements: (1) models for changing the culture in care facilities, (2) lifelong learning for SLPs that is focused on ethical, evidence-based, culturally competent practice and (3) tools for educating and empowering patients. * This course satisfies the medical errors requirement for biennial relicensure of Florida speech-language pathologists and audiologists. Course #20-77 | 2013 | 35 pages | 15 posttest questions

This online course provides instant access to the course materials (PDF download) and CE test. After enrolling, click on My Account and scroll down to My Active Courses. From here you’ll see links to download/print the course materials and take the CE test (you can print the test to mark your answers on it while reading the course document).

Successful completion of the online CE test (80% required to pass, 3 chances to take) and course evaluation are required to earn a certificate of completion. Click here to learn more.

Professional Development Resources is approved by the Continuing Education Board of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA Provider #AAUM) to provide continuing education activities in speech-language pathology and audiology. Professional Development Resources is also approved by the Florida Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology (Provider #50-1635) and the Ohio Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology and is CE Broker compliant (all courses are reported within 1 week of completion).