What the heck is PAWS?
What does PAWS stand for?
What does it mean?
How did PAWS get started?
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PAWS was born during the 2006 Seminole County Patient Safety Summit. One of the top patient safety concerns at the time was wrong site surgeries. In an effort to stop wrong site surgeries, Florida legislators mandated that surgeons take a “time out” before any surgical procedure.
The mandate upset many surgeons, who felt the “time out” was unnecessary, punitive, and insulting — it sounded like a punishment for a misbehaving child. Yet other physicians realized that once you got past the feeling of indignity, there was value in everyone taking time to “pause” and focus before a surgical procedure.
One reasons for the 2006 Summit was to convince Seminole County physicians of the need to address patient safety, and of the value of the “time out” and other patient safety initiatives. To gain physician acceptance, it was felt the entire patient safety movement needed to be perceived in a positive and constructive way.
When the Summit was held at the Wayne Densch Conference Center at the Central Florida Zoo, the lion symbol for PAWS became a natural. A few slogans fell in place:
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In Seminole County, Patient Safety is our MANE Priority
Seminole County Takes PRIDE in Delivering Safe Health Care
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The concept of PAWS became both a play on “pause”, and a positive symbol of the Summit and patient safety in Seminole County. PAWS can mean different things to different people:
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Practicing Always With Safety
Patient Awareness – Wise Solutions
Pausing & Acting With Safety
Putting Actions With Systems-
For Seminole County physicians, we want PAWS to be a reminder that:
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Patients want us to care about Safety
Colleagues depend on us to care about Safety
Our Community is delighted we care about Safety-
The goal is for us to all PAWS together, showing our commitment to Patient Safety in Seminole County.
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So, what does PAWS mean to you?
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