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Significance of safety at healthcare facility
Patient safety and risk management
Patient safety key words
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Introduction
Patient safety has become a major concern in the healthcare sector because of the prevalence of medical errors. Patient safety has even stood out as its own ideal discipline and it encompasses certain areas of healthcare service provision such as reporting, analysis and prevention of medical errors (because of the upsurge of medical errors across the globe). Initially, medical errors were not considered a big issue in medical circles until there was an increased trend of medical errors across the globe which resulted into adverse medical events and a high number of patient deaths. This trend prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to carry out an assessment of the impact of medical errors across the globe and established that at least 1 in every 10 patient across the globe is normally affected by medical errors (World Health Organization 2008).
Indeed, in recent years, the world has been shocked by medical documentaries exposing the prevalence of medical error and its ability to cause adverse medical events. For instance in April 1982, America was treated to a very shocking documentary titled the deep sleep that showed the number and kinds of medical errors that occurred as a result of anesthesia accidents that were estimated to affect approximately 6,000 American patients who later suffered brain damage or other adverse medical events (Ellison 2011). The same concern has also been registered in Britain and Australia where patient safety was brought into sharp focus by the Royal Society of Medicine, Harvard medical school (in Britain) and the Australia patient safety foundation (in Australia) (Ellison 2011). In Australia, its is estimated that approximately 18,000 of medical deaths are as a result of medical ...
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...ort his or her colleague. This provision is often not adhered to.
There is adequate research evidenced from a number of medical studies to suggest that doctors’ professional values are normally influenced by external factors. This fact supports several growing literatures supporting a change in the external medical environment to reduce instances of medical errors. BMJ Publishing Group Ltd affirms that “We believe that as well as promoting high standards of behavior from within their own professional societies, it is important for doctors to advocate for healthcare system reforms that facilitate high standards of behavior” (BMJ Publishing Group Ltd 2011, 19). However, the call to reform the healthcare sector is deemed to be an internal affair as many doctors across the globe are pressured to improve existing healthcare systems to reduce chances of medical errors.
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) reported in 1999 that between 44,000 and 98,000 people die each year in the United States due to a preventable medical error. A report written by the National Quality Forum (NQF) found that over a decade after the IOM report the prevalence of medical errors remains very high (2010). In fact a study done by the Hearst Corporation found that the number of deaths due to medical error and post surgical infections has increased since the IOM first highlighted the problem and recommended actions to reduce the number of events (Dyess, 2009).
Hospital medical errors can involve medicines (e.g., wrong drug, wrong dose, bad combination), an inaccurate or incomplete diagnosis, equipment malfunction, surgical mistakes, or laboratory errors. High medical error rates with serious consequences occurs in intensive care units, operating rooms, and emergency departments; but, serious errors that harmed patients may have prevented or minimized. Understand the nature of the error
Milani, Oleck and Lavie reported that Medical errors are the eighth leading cause of death in the hospitals. About 44,000 to 98,000 people die each year from adverse effects from medication errors, 1 million annually die in
According to Poorolajal, medical errors occur when health care providers choose inappropriate methods of care or improperly execute an appropriate method of care (Poorolajal, et al. para 5 -10), which could potentially lead to loss of life and severe or permanent trauma to the victim. Valiani et al. argues, “Committing an error is part of the human nature” (540). Valiani et al. insist that no health care practitioner is immune to committing an error event if they demonstrate mastery of their skills (540). However, error in health care systems is dependent on many causes and factors. Management of such factors is essential to reducing the occurrence of errors in a health care system. Therefore, what strategies can medical practitioners implement to reduce medical errors? Medical practitioners can implement strategies such as communication, verification, and eliminating extended work shifts. These strategies are most effective because they help medical providers fulfill their full potential in doing their job in the most effective
Patient safety one of the driving forces of healthcare. Patient safety is defined as, “ the absence of preventable harm to a patient during the process of healthcare or as the prevention of errors and adverse events caused by the provision of healthcare rather than the patient’s underlying disease process. (Kangasniemi, Vaismoradi, Jasper, &Turunen, 2013)”. It was just as important in the past as it is day. Our healthcare field continues to strive to make improvement toward safer care for patients across the country.
It is shocking to know that every year 98000 patients die from medical errors that can be prevented(Kohn, L. T., Corrigan, J. M., & Donaldson, M. S. (Eds.), 2000). Medical errors are not a new issue in our healthcare system; these have been around for a long time. Hospitals have been trying to improve quality care and patients safety by implementing different strategies to prevent and reduce medical errors for past thirty years. Medical errors are the third leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer in America (Allen, 2013). In addition medical errors are costing our healthcare system an estimated $735 billion to $980 billion (Andel, Davidow, Hollander, & Moreno, 2012).
Keeping patients safe is essential in today’s health care system, but patient safety events that violate that safety are increasing each year. It was only recently, that the focus on patient safety was reinforced by a report prepared by Institute of medicine (IOM) entitled ” To err is human, building a safer health system”(Wakefield & Iliffe,2002).This report found that approx-imately 44,000 to 98,000 deaths occur each year due to medical errors and that the majority was preventable. Deaths due to medical errors exceed deaths due to many other causes such as like HIV infections, breast cancer and even traffic accidents (Wakefield & Iliffe, 2002). After this IOM reports, President Clinton established quality interagency coordination task force with the help of government agencies. These government agencies are responsible for making health pol-icies regarding patient safety to which every HCO must follow (Schulman & Kim, 2000).
Consequently, people argue whether doctors should be punished for their mistakes or whether they should be given immunity to lawsuits and other possible consequences. Doctors should not be punished for their mistakes, unless there is clear, purposeful negligence shown because if they are punished, they will not be able to learn from their mistake. Some people believe that doctors should be held responsible for their actions, even if that includes a minor mistake. Doctors are, after all, dealing with other lives, not just a toy they have the luxury to practice on. In “Medical Mistakes- Doctors Should Learn to Own Up” by Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, she presents the case of
Several healthcare providers advocate patient safety as one of the highest priorities during the provision of care to patients. Medical errors exist and they can pose a real threat to the quality and sustainability of a hospital while providing patient care. There are many things that can occur in the healthcare field; but no one is exempt from making a mistake that could possibly lead to a personal tragedy. According to a
Errors can result from either faulty systems or processes that can be inefficient or the changing mix of patients and health insurance, as well as differences with provider experiences and education that can increase the level of complexity. Medical errors can result from lack of skills, to coordination of care, to mistakes and diagnosis, all of these can impinge on patient safety. One of the ways that improvements in patient outcomes with regard to quality and patient safety can be made is with the use of reciprocal inhibition which is a process of defining undesirable behaviors and reinforcing the positive aspects of it instead. Medical errors happen and health organizations with the use of reciprocal inhibition can improve it instead of punishing those that were responsible for the error. Perhaps finding out what led to the error being made is a great way to it to prevent them.
The Role of the Registered Nurse in Regard to Patient Safety During Intraoperative Procedures An intraoperative setting is defined as the time the patient enters the operating room to the time the patient leaves the operating room to go to recovery. As a circulating nurse, our priority is to keep the patient as safe and infection free as possible throughout the entire procedure. Interventions to enrich patient safety throughout operating rooms are needed continuously to assure a successful outcome for the patient. A few important nursing implications used to maintain patient safety are: preventing infection, maintaining proper positioning, and effective communication.
The causes of these deaths were due to a variety of reasons that fall under 3 categories: operative, drug-related, and diagnostic (Thomas & Classen, 2014) Since patient safety is a serious issue, there are groups that “require hospitals to measure and report specific safety events [like] the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, The Joint Commission, The National Quality Forum, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Consumer Reports, and The Leapfrog Group” (Thomas & Classen, 2014). These groups work hard to try to make sure that patients get the quality care they deserve, but
In the context of healthcare, safety may be understood generally preventing patient harm. This is further confirmed by the fact that “patient safety focuses on designing systems to remove factors known to cause errors or adverse events” (LoBiondo-Wood & Haber, 2017, p. 432). On the basis of this definition or conceptualization of (patient) safety, it is possible to recognize a number of issues that may threaten or undermine patient safety. One particular issue that needs attention is hospital-acquired infections, which in many cases occur because medical staff fail to properly disinfect themselves or the equipment they use on patients. Another example that underlines the importance of patient safety is prescription error, which in many cases is further aggravated by the professional’s failure to disclose the error completely or in a timely manner.
The health care is extremely important to society because without health care it would not be possible for individuals to remain healthy. The health care administers care, treats, and diagnoses millions of individual’s everyday from newborn to fatal illness patients. The health care consists of hospitals, outpatient care, doctors, employees, and nurses. Within the health care there are always changes occurring because of advance technology and without advance technology the health care would not be as successful as it is today. Technology has played a big role in the health care and will continue in the coming years with new methods and procedures of diagnosis and treatment to help safe lives of the American people. However, with plenty of advance technology the health care still manages to make an excessive amount of medical errors. Health care organizations face many issues and these issues have a negative impact on the health care system. There are different ways medical errors can occur within the health care. Medical errors are mistakes that are made by health care providers with no intention of harming patients. These errors rang from communication error, surgical error, manufacture error, diagnostic error, and wrong medication error. There are hundreds of thousands of patients that die every year due to medical error. With medical errors on the rise it has caused the United States to be the third leading cause of death. (Allen.M, 2013) Throughout the United States there are many issues the he...
Patient safety is one of the fundamental element in health care. A lot of people across the globe suffer all forms of injure during their care delivery. According to World Health Organisation, a lot of people are harmed in the process of health care delivery which results in permanent injury or prolonged stay in the hospital or sometimes death. In addition, it supported that harm resulting medical errors forms the third leading cause of death in united kingdom.