Good Quality Care and Promotion of Patient Safety

Patient Safety

Patient safety means "the absence of preventable harm to a patient during the process of health care." In includes issues such as the prevention of hospital-acquired infections, surgical safety, medication errors, falls and accidents in hospital.

Patient safety is a key aspect of patient-centered care and is tied to the patient experience and health outcomes.

Protecting patients from harm is one of the most important things health professionals can do to their patients.

Healthcare professionals should also stay attentive to procedure protocol, another key aspect to delivering a quality patient experience. Healthcare professionals must ensure that both patient safety and patient experience are top priority. Patients cannot have a positive experience without safety. Promoting family and caregiver engagement can likewise support patient safety by adding yet another set of eyes looking for inaccuracies in patient care.

Patient safety practices have been defined as "those that reduce the risk of adverse events related to exposure to medical care across a range of diagnoses or conditions." This definition is concrete but quite incomplete, because so many practices have not been well studied with respect to their effectiveness in preventing or ameliorating harm.

Patient safety is the cornerstone of high-quality health care. Much of the work defining patient safety and practices that prevent harm have focused on negative outcomes of care, such as mortality and morbidity.

Practices considered to have sufficient evidence to include in the category of patient safety practices examples are as follow: 

• Appropriate use of prophylaxis to prevent venous thromboembolism in patients at risk.
• Use of perioperative beta-blockers in appropriate patients to prevent perioperative morbidity and mortality.
• Use of maximum sterile barriers while placing central intravenous catheters to prevent infections.
• Appropriate use of antibiotic prophylaxis in surgical patients to prevent postoperative infections.
• Asking that patients recall and restate what they have been told during the informed-consent process to verify their understancing.
• Continuous aspiration of subglottic secretions to prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia.
• Use of pressure-relieving bedding materials to prevent pressure ulcers.
• Use of real-time ultrasound guidance during central line insertion to prevent complications.

Quality of Care

The World Health Organization's (WHO) definition of quality of care is "the extent 

to which health care services provided to individuals and patient populations improve desired health outcomes. In order to achieve this, health care must be safe, effective, timely, efficient, equitable and people-centered."

• Safe. Delivering health care that minimizes risks and harm to service users, including avoiding preventable injuries and reducing medical errors.
• Effective. Providing services based on scientific knowledge and evidence-based guidelines.
• Timely. Reducing delays in providing and receiving health care.
• Efficient. Delivering health care in a manner that maximizes resource use and avoids waste.
• Equitable. Delivering health care that does not differ in quality according to personal characteristics such as gender, race, ethnicity, geographical location or socioeconomic status.
• People-Centered. Providing care that takes into account the preferences and aspirations of individual service users and the culture of their community.

Reference:

World Health Organization. Patient Safety. (2019, September 13). Retrieved from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/patient-safety