December’s safety behavior: Decide with SORT
SORT stands for statement, options, rule out, and take action and test.
Imagine heading out to work but discovering that your car won’t start. To decide what to do next, you could use the safety behavior for December, “Decide with SORT.”
“When we are faced with a problem to solve in a new or unusual situation, we can use the acronym SORT to work through the process,” said Becky Pomrenke, MSN, RN, patient safety manager for USA Health. “This tool can help us to think critically and determine a course of action.”
To address the car scenario, you might first suspect a dead battery. “If it’s the battery, who do you call to jump off your car? Where do you take your car to get a new battery installed?” Pomrenke said. “If it isn’t the battery, where do you get your car towed? How do you get to work? We use SORT in these types of scenarios to problem-solve.”
SORT is an acronym outlining these steps:
- Statement: What is the problem? What are we trying to achieve?
- Options: What are the possible solutions? To answer this question, consult with experts, brainstorm and refer to policies, procedures and literature.
- Rule out: Triage by eliminating the improbable or impractical based on facts, and then select the best option.
- Take action and test: Implement the selected option and check to see if desired results were achieved.
As part of our Safety Starts with Me initiative, USA Health introduces a safety behavior and tool of the month to be discussed and practiced at huddles and in departments across the health system.
