Leslie Alexander, RN; Melissa Onofrio

Great Catch winners help YNHH become a high reliability organization

Congratulations to these Great Catch winners for modeling HRO safety behaviors and taking action to improve patient safety.

Leslie Alexander, RN, nurse navigator, Digestive Health, was recognized for demonstrating attention to detail, 200% accountability and speaking up for safety. She noticed that a patient scheduled for a routine colonoscopy had recently been diagnosed with a large aortic root aneurysm. Listening to her “internal smoke detector,” Alexander contacted Anesthesiology, which confirmed her concerns and postponed the colonoscopy. By using HRO safety behaviors, Alexander prevented a potentially negative outcome for this high-risk patient. 

Melissa Onofrio, CT scan technologist, was recognized for practicing a questioning attitude, using STAR (Stop, Think, Act, Review) and speaking up for safety. While checking a patient’s kidney function lab values, Onofrio noticed a variation between results produced by the point-of-care testing device and results in the patient record. She ran additional quality assurance tests, then escalated her concerns to leadership. An investigation showed that the devices were producing inaccurate values. YNHHS shut down the devices, which the vendor recalibrated.