Safety

Name Essay Course Teacher Date Tasers: A Necessity In a society where crime exists such as robbers, burglars, shoplifters, or worse, black market sellers of drugs, electronic devices or designer products. Law enforcement is needed to maintain order which requires a method that is effective to apprehend suspects while keeping injuries to a minimum instead of using guns to solve every situation. Luckily the adoption of Tasers – by industry standards as electronic controlled device (ECD) or Conducted Energy Weapon (CEW) – allows the law enforcement to apprehend a suspect without having to involve themselves in a close-range combative battle.

Charlie Mesloh, a university professor at Florida Gulf Coast, Mark Henych, a researcher at Advanced Research Solutions, and Ross Wolf, a criminal justice professor at the University of Central Florida claim that the Tasers is a less-lethal weapon that inflicts a current of electricity throughout the body of the individual which temporarily causes the loss of muscle control (25). TASER International, the inventors of ECD claims this as Neuromuscular Incapacitation (NMI) (1).

TASER International asserts, “[t]he human nervous system communicates with simple electrical impulses . . . TASER technology uses similar electrical impulses to cause stimulation of the sensory and motor nerves” (1). Though there are many controversies on the use of Tasers in BC, it is still a much needed device to keep the community safe. Tasers has been shunned upon by many people in British Columbia because of the story’s circulating around and all the news reports on this tiny device.

The most famous and memorable story would be the incident that happened at the Vancouver International Airport to Robert Dziekanski. CBC news reports that the video is in three segments, the first segment shows Dziekanski before police arrives being very agitated and yelling in Polish and seems to be very nervous, the second segment shows Dziekanski picking up a computer then throwing it to the ground, then “[t]hree airport personnel arrive and block the exit from the secure area, but Dziekanski retreats inside and does not threaten them” (#).

The third and final segment shows four RCMP officers arriving on scene and “can be heard mentioning the word Tasers” (#). Someone can also be heard responding “Yes” to the question (#). Police have said repeatedly that there were only three RCMP officers involved in the incident, but the video shows four men in RCMP uniforms. People in the lounge can be heard clearly telling the police Dziekanski speaks no English, only Russian. His mother later said he only spoke Polish. Police enter the secure area with no problems and an be seen with Dziekanski standing calmly talking with officers. They appear to direct him to stand against a wall, which he does. As he is standing there, one of the officers shoots him with a Taser . . . officers have also said police did not use pepper spray because of the large number of people at the airport at the time. But the video shows Dziekanski standing alone with the four officers in an otherwise empty area, which is separated from the public area by a thick glass wall. (CBC #)

After the Taser shots, the sound from Dziekanski stopped and became silent, an officer can be heard saying, “code red” after checking on his condition and “minutes later, ambulance attendants arrived but their efforts to revive Dziekanski were unsuccessful and he was declared dead” (#). There are also other incidents that has happened in the past few years and there are definitely cases of misuse with this device which brings about the misconception people get from Tasers, but even though some tragic events happen, it is still one of the safest alternative to bring a healthy environment to everyone.

There are people who strongly believe Tasers should be banned, however, banning Tasers will only result in more injuries during arrests. David Hambling, a respected free lance writer on technology and military states, “[a] recent study in the American Journal of Public Health looked at 24, 000 cases in which police officers had used force, including Tasers, pepper spray, batons and manual methods . . . the study found that Taser use reduced the overall risk of injury by 65 percent.

In other words, restricting Taser use could triple the number of injuries caused in this sort of incident” (1). Misconceptions on the use of Taser led to a comment by a person who goes by the name “the disturber” on CBC news website, he says, “what’s wrong with people when they [start] using devices that can pump out over 1500 volts for self defence that’s just not cool. [D]oesn’t any one remember the guy who got [tasered] 5 times at the air port because he wasn’t “co-operating” with the security; wasn’t he killed because of the shock? I] think that they should be banned from use for a less [lethal] item like pepper spray” (#). Pepper sprays can not be used in closed areas because it will effect innocent bystanders, also, as Jim Wilkinson, the Vice President of the site Your Greatest Protection declares, “[pepper spray] works longer than Tasers or stun guns, it will cause coughing and choking, and it burns really bad . . . [s]tun guns work by disabling the nervous and the muscular system but only for a few moments. Pepper spray works by causing pain, blindness, and choking for up to 30 minutes” (1).

Tasers only neutralize the suspect for several seconds which allows police to seize the suspect in that time and wouldn’t cause the suspect to suffocate for “30 minutes. ” Additionally, there are also many cases where the misuse of pepper spray also caused deaths. Just one mistake with the Taser will bring many people to disagree with the product, but if Taser were really banned, the law enforcement will be forced to use close-range strategies or guns just like in the video Back From The Brink, where Suisun City had to use 52% of the police budget to try and handle the problems in the crime-ridden crescent (video).

Any sort of weapons can result in injuries if not used properly, Tasers included, but if used effectively, it will be the best weapon out there to safely neutralize a suspect and bringing a safe community. The incidents revolving around Tasers has angered the general public and as a result, the RCMP invoked strict new rules and training effective May of 2010. The Tasers operational manual provided by the RCMP states, “[m]embers certified to use the CEW must re-certify annually . . . m]embers whose CEW certification has lapsed must not use the CEW operationally until the re-certification training has been completed” (1). Every part of the Taser is also approved by the RCMP before being released in public. RCMP members must verbally let the subject know the CEW is about to be deployed (3). Additionally, whenever a member takes a CEW it must be thoroughly checked for damages, if no damages are found, a spark test will be conducted, if damages were found, it will be removed with haste and sent to qualified personnel’s (4).

Any time the CEW is used it will be recorded down and supervisors will be notified (4). Many strict rules were set in motion to ensure the safety of the user and the subject as well as strict training methods to make the misuse of this product nonexistent. The operational manual also educates that “[m]ultiple deployment or continuous cycling of the CEW may be hazardous to a subject. Unless situational factors dictate otherwise, members must not cycle the CEW for more than 5 seconds on a subject and will avoid multiple deployments” (3).

These new rules and regulations allow for members to thoroughly know the Tasers and assures the correct methods of use is performed. Tasers has been a very controversial device throughout Canada, especially when RCMP officers handle them. The major issue surrounding Tasers is that the citizens feel Tasers is a form of torture while others feel it is a necessary device to keep the community safe.

Tasers could be lethal if used the wrong way, but even then Tasers will still be much safer compared to a gun as well as more incapacitating than the pepper spray, also would not cause suffocation to the suspect at hand. If Tasers were taken away, it will only result in more injuries given to the suspect or the officer. When an officer uses the Taser, they must show that their actions were reasonable and just, but good training, as always, is the key to effective use of Taser and to keep our neighborhood friendly. (1446 words)

What were reasons for implementing lean management at Virginia Mason Hospital? Lean thinking begins with driving out waste so that all work adds value and serves the customer’s needs. Identifying value-added and non-value-added steps in every process is the beginning of the journey toward lean operations. In order for lean principles to take root, leaders must first work to create an organizational culture that is receptive to lean thinking. The commitment to lean must start at the very top of the organization, and all staff should be involved in helping to redesign processes to improve flow and reduce waste.

Although health care differs in many ways from manufacturing, there are also surprising similarities: Whether building a car or providing health care for a patient, workers must rely on multiple, complex processes to accomplish their tasks and provide value to the customer or patient. Waste —of money, time, supplies, or good will — decreases value. And the CEO of VM realized several reasons for them to implement lean management to improve the poor performance of the old system: 1. The path to better quality and safety is the same as the path to reduced cost.

2. VM’s old system is full of waste (non-value-added activities), need to systematically reduce and eliminate that waste. 3. Improvement is not coming from a technological arms race. What is VMPS and what are its main principles? The Virginia Mason Production System (VMPS) is a management method based on manufacturing principles that seeks to continually improve how work is done. Using this method, Virginia Mason (VM) identifies and eliminates waste and inefficiency in the many processes that are part of the health care experience, making it possible for VM staff to deliver the highest quality and safest patient care.

By streamlining repetitive and low-touch aspects of care delivery, staff and providers spend more time talking with, listening to and treating patients. Virginia Mason’s vision is to be the Quality Leader in health care. This vision requires adopting a paradigm shift from expecting errors and defects, to believing that the perfect patient experience is possible. Key to accomplishing this is understanding that staff who do the work know what the problems are and have the best solutions. VMPS strategies range from small-scale ideas tested and mplemented immediately to long-range planning that redesigns new spaces and processes. VM uses several continuous improvement activities, such as Rapid Process Improvement Workshops (RPIWs) and kaizen events focused on incremental changes, as well as 3P workshops intended to completely redesign a process. VM has held 850 continuous improvement activities involving staff, patients and guests. VM leaders saw value in the TPS principles of making quality and safety a top priority, relentlessly focusing on the customer, reducing waste (of which health care has an abundance), and engaging staff in continuous improvement.

The idea behind VMPS is to achieve continuous improvement by adding value without adding money, people, large machines, space or inventory, all toward a single overarching goal — no waste. Explain main wastes of resources that VMPS targets. The idea behind VMPS is to achieve continuous improvement by adding value without adding money, people, large machines, space or inventory, all toward a single overarching goal — no waste.

VMPS has six areas of focus: • “Patient First” as the driver for all processes to eliminate •The creation of an environment in which people feel safe and free to engage in improvement–including the adoption of a “No-Layoff Policy” •Implementation of a company-wide defect alert system called “The Patient Safety Alert System” •Encouragement of innovation and “trystorming” (beyond brainstorming, trystorming involves quickly trying new ideas or models of new ideas) •Creating a prosperous economic organization primarily by eliminating waste • Accountable leadership Instead of doctors waiting until the end of the day to go though a stack of patient records, they now write comments and recommendations immediately after seeing the patient before going to see the next one. The time saved increases the time a physician can spend with a patient. Most of the cost of medical care involves clogs in the flow of information — paper forms, lab results, phone messages, often leading to irritated patients.

Two details on this list bear further explanation. The No-Layoff Policy is critical to the success of implementing lean management. People will more fully commit nd engage in improvement work if they are not worried about improving themselves out of a job. Attrition, typically steady in health care, will enable most organizations to reassign staff to other necessary work. A culture shift is important here as well: Staff, especially in health care, do not typically view themselves as working for the organization, but for their individual department and/or care team. In lean thinking, the patient/customer drives all processes, and staff/providers must come to understand that they work for the patient. This means they may be reassigned depending on the needs of the patients.

Secondly, the defect alert system is a fundamental element of the TPS, known as “stopping the line. ” Every worker in the Toyota plant has the power and the obligation to stop the assembly line when a defect or error is identified or even suspected. Workers pull a cord, a light goes on, music plays as a signal for supervisors to come and help, and the entire assembly line either slows or stops (depending on the degree of the defect resolution time) while line workers and supervisors assess and fix the problem, often preventing an error from becoming embedded in the final product.

This typically happens many times a day. The theory behind stopping the line is that mistakes are inevitable, but reversible. Defects are mistakes that were not fixed at the source, passed on to another process, or not detected soon enough and are now relatively permanent. If you fix mistakes early enough in the process, your product will have zero defects. Mistakes are least harmful and easiest to fix the closer you get to the time and place they arise. The reverse is also true. What is patient safety alert system and how it works?

Virginia Mason used VMPS to develop a Patient Safety Alert (PSA) system requiring all staff who encounters a situation likely to harm a patient to make an immediate report and cease any activity that could cause further harm. If the safety of a patient is indeed at risk, an investigation is immediately launched to correct the problem. Most reports are processed within 24 hours – a significant improvement from when reports took three to 18 months to resolve. Patient safety at VM has increased and professional liability claims have dropped.

Explain the main results of implementing VMPS. Since adopting VMPS, Virginia Mason teams have achieved significant organizational and departmental improvements: •Reduced the time it takes to report lab test results to the patient by more than 85 percent. •Improved the percent of time nurses spend in direct patient care from 35 percent to 90 percent. •Reduced bedsores (a common problem in hospitals) from 8 percent to less than 2 percent, preventing 838 patients per year from acquiring bedsores. •Saved $1 million in supply expense in 2009. Reduced professional liability insurance 48. 9 percent from 2004 to 2009. •Reduced laboratory staff walking distance by 2. 8 miles and removed 357 hours of lead time from lab operations. •Pharmacy improved medication distribution from physician order to availability for administration from 2. 5 hours to 10 minutes and reduced incomplete inpatient medication orders from 20 to 40 percent to less than 0. 2 percent; both were achieved through process improvement and computer physician order entry (CPOE) implementation