Emergency Medicine: Open Access
Open Access

Patient Safety: Hospital Tips for Medical Residents and Other Hospital

Halwar Raftajin^{* *}Correspondence: Halwar Raftajin, Centre of Excellence Trauma and Emergencies, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan, Email:

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Description

Patient Safety is a health care discipline that emerged with the evolving complexity in health care systems and the resulting rise of patient harm in health care facilities. It tries to prevent and minimize risks, mistakes, and harm to patients during the delivery of healthcare. Continuous improvement based on learning from mistakes and unfavorable circumstances is a tenet of the discipline. Patient safety is frequently seen as existing under the general umbrella of high-quality healthcare. For instance, according to the Institute of Medicine (IOM), patient safety is "indistinguishable from the provision of high-quality medical treatment."

Delivering high-quality, vital healthcare services require a commitment to patient safety. Indeed, there is broad agreement that effective, secure, and person-centered health services should be provided everywhere. Additionally, health services must be prompt, equitable, integrated, and efficient in order to reap the rewards of high-quality medical care.

A developed healthcare system takes into account the fact that human error is increased by the complexity of healthcare environments. For instance, a patient at a hospital may receive the incorrect drug as a result of a mix-up brought on by similar packaging. The prescription in this instance goes through several layers of care, starting with the ward doctor, then to the pharmacy for dispensing, and ultimately to the nurse who gives the patient the incorrect drug.

This problem could have been swiftly found and fixed if safeguarding procedures had been in place at the various levels. The absence of standard operating procedures for storing pharmaceuticals that appears comparable, poor. It gives, a lack of medication administration verification, and patient involvement in their own treatment may all have been contributing factors in this case.

In the past, if an incidence like this occurred, the provider who actively made the mistake (active error) would be held accountable and possibly punished. Unfortunately, this does not take into account the elements of the system that were previously detailed and contributed to the problem (latent errors). A patient experiences an active error only when several latent errors line up.

Hospital patient safety tips

Different healthcare environments may experience medical errors, and those that do in hospitals may have dire repercussions. These ten evidence-based recommendations are provided by the agency for healthcare research and quality, which has funded hundreds of patient safety research and implementation projects.

Prevent central line-associated blood stream infections: Every time a central venous catheter is implanted, follow these five precautions to prevent central line-associated blood stream infections: wash your hands, employ full-barrier precautions, scrub the skin with chlorhexidine, avoid femoral lines, and remove unneeded lines. In a study at more than 100 big and small hospitals, these actions consistently decreased this kind of lethal healthcare-associated infection to zero.

Re-engineer hospital discharges: By designating a staff person to collaborate closely with patients and other staff members to reconcile prescriptions and plan essential follow-up medical appointments, you can avoid preventable readmissions. Make a straightforward, simple-to-understand discharge plan with a list of all forthcoming medical appointments, a schedule of all prescribed medications, and contact information for each patient.

Prevent venous thromboembolism: Create a Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) protocol utilizing an evidence-based guidance to eradicate Hospital-acquired Venous Thromboembolism (HVTE), the most common cause of avoidable hospital mortality. This free handbook outlines the crucial first actions to be taken, how to present the evidence and identify best practices, how to examine the way care is delivered, how to track performance with metrics, how to layer interventions, and how to keep getting better.

Educate patients about using blood thinners safely: Surgery, patients frequently receive a new prescription for a blood thinner, such as warfarin (trade name: Coumadin, to prevent the formation of potentially fatal blood clots. However, blood thinners are one of the main contributors to adverse medication events and can result in uncontrollable bleeding if used improperly. Free patient education materials include a 24-page pamphlet in English and Spanish and a 10-minute patient education film that explains what to expect when taking these medications.

Limit shift durations for medical residents and other hospital staff if possible

Evidence suggests that medical residents who are both acutely and chronically exhausted are more prone to make mistakes.