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5 Ways To Ensure Safety And Care In Patients

9th December is chosen as the day to commemorate World Patient Safety Day. This year on WPS Day, the focus is on spreading awareness about unsafe healthcare. As per the WHO Report, one in every 10 patients across the world get affected by unsafe healthcare practices. Therefore, on this day, the purpose is to show support and commitment towards solving and tackling these issues and to make patient safety a priority.

Patient safety day while the issue is prevalent in both developed as well as developing countries, let us make ourselves aware of patient safety. Here are 5 basic ways to ensure patient safety and care:

Hand Hygiene

Research shows that effective hand hygiene improves knowledge of when to clean and how to clean. Hospitals have to ensure that alcohol-based rub and gloves are available at the bedside, and guarantee that compliance is monitored continuously. The safety of a patient should be the at most priority. The last thing anyone wants is to lead way for infections to arise due to negligence.

Checklist

Make sure to double, triple check the check-ups and surgical rounds and procedure involved in the treatment process. There have been many cases where the patient has been admitted for an illness and is treated for something else. The most well-known surgical safety checklist is the one devised in 2008 by World Health Organisation (WHO), which cuts mortality rates from 1.5% to 0.8% at sites in industrialized nations and developing countries. The checklist also helped reduce the surgical complications rate from 11% to 7% over six months involving nearly 4,000 procedures. So as doctors, be extra wary of your patient’s medical safety.

Avoid abbreviations

Abbreviations although saves time and gets things done quickly, it can lead to a lot of confusion. Avoid using abbreviations. About 15,000 medication errors a year have been linked to using abbreviations such as ”u” for ”unit” and ”o.d.” instead of ”once daily.” So don’t let something as small as mixing up of name result in the loss of a life. Implementation of computerized physician order entry systems also can help eliminate the vestiges of this problem.

There are international patient safety goals which are Identify patient correctly
1. Improve effective communication
2. Prevent medication errors
3. Ensure safe surgery
4. Reduce risk of healthcare associated infections
5. Reduce risk of patient harm from fall

Dr. M.G. Kartheeka, MBBS, MD

Rapid Response System

You need to build teams in such a way that they will work together in ensuring to implement team strategies and tools to enhance performance and patient safety. Effective team communication and materials can be tailored to any health care setting, from emergency departments to ambulatory clinics. This will ensure quick response to deal with a crisis.

Prevent healthcare-associated pressure ulcers, identify and reduce the risk of suicide, Conduct a pre-procedure verification process are some of the other patient safety goals followed universally

Dr. Ashish Bajaj, M.B.B.S., M.D.

Promote reporting

There is an increase in the amount of public interest with regards to patient safety. If there has been a case of mishap, it needs to be reported no matter what. This can be the only way to learn from mistakes and prevent recurrence. Such incidences should be well defined and easy to access. This will ensure that the National and state will learn and work more efficiently and carefully for patient safety.

The information provided here is for educational/awareness purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for medical treatment by a healthcare professional and should not be relied upon to diagnose or treat any medical condition. The reader should consult a registered medical practitioner to determine the appropriateness of the information and before consuming any medication. PharmEasy does not provide any guarantee or warranty (express or implied) regarding the accuracy, adequacy, completeness, legality, reliability or usefulness of the information; and disclaims any liability arising thereof.

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