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Patient safety is a very important element with the overall healthcare system. Regulations and new initiatives set forth by the Affordable Care Act have created much elevated culture of safety. As a result, facilities must now alter the manner in which they deliver and administer treatment to patients. A culture that once focused on transactions and bloated costs has now been replaced with one predicated on safety. Creating a culture of safety is no easy task however. In fact, it can be particularly difficult when older employee habits have been deeply engrained in the daily processes of work. To create a culture of safety, management must first communicate its expectations to all stakeholders involved. Communication is an integral aspect of patient safety. Communication is important because it sets the overall tone within the organization. Communication regarding expectations is particularly potent when top-level management is heavily involved. Consistent emphasis on quality and patient safety will indicate to all stakeholders that management is serious about what it says. In addition, communication and open dialogue allows for the exchange of ideas to better implement the initiatives. Through open dialogue, a culture is formed, as more stakeholders have a vested interest the overall outcome. Feeling empowered to speak up and improve an initiative provides
... It is through this accountability that culture is formed and habits are engrained into the labor force.
Modeling behaviors is also very important when attempting to create a culture of safety. Communication can only go so far. Actually modeling the behavior that management wants to engrain in the company culture is critical. It allows all stakeholders to have a reference point as to expectable standards to safety. Through modeling the expected behavior, stakeholders also understand the minimum expectable standards for a particular activity. This reduces ambiguity and creates a concrete vision of how a task is supposed to be done.
Finally technology can be used to further create a culture of safety within a firm. Humans are naturally error prone. Occasionally, a firm may become busy, creating an environment were errors occur. Further, an employee may be very tired from a long shift and commit an error. Still further, a new employee may not be accustomed to the corporate culture and commit an error. In all of these circumstances, a well-intentioned individual simply makes an error. Technology helps to improve the likelihood of catching…
References:
1. Clinton HR, Obama B (2006). "Making patient safety the centerpiece of medical liability reform." N. Engl. J. Med. 354 (21): 2205 -- 8
2. Kraman SS, Cranfill L, Hamm G, Woodard T (December 2002). "John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety Awards. Advocacy: the Lexington Veterans Affairs Medical Center." Jt Comm J. Qual Improv. 28 (12): 646 -- 50
They added newer constructs to a PSC model developed earlier by Gershon and his colleagues (2000), which unveiled the relationship of safety and security aspects and linked it with work performance. They found that when hospital staff used the Gershon tool there was considerable increase in the patient safety culture. They concluded that the health care decision makers when using Gershon safety tools, which appear to have sufficient reliability
O'Meara stresses that a system known as a Decision Support System of DSS can be integrated into existing it to identify potential errors that could be made on any given case and provide the staff with flags to help them avoid such errors. (December 2007, pp. 970-979) DSS technology can seriously improve the chances that patients will not receive inadequate care or that services and potential challenges to them get
Patient care and recovery statistics demonstrate that the United States has a medical care system with which Americans are less satisfied than other citizens in developed countries. There are many reasons for this: correlation between health and socioeconomic status; non-universality; federal government is not involved in medical planning although it purchases a large percentage of the 14% health care GNP; lobbying and special interest group interference; and political opposition to
Patient Safety and Security Patient information, privacy and security are at the heart of providing a high level of medical services. These issues are vitally important if patient confidence is to be retained, in addition to ensuring that no potential harm comes to the patient. Hence, the information systems at any hospital should be managed in such a way as to retain the confidentiality of patient information, particularly where such information
Patient Safety Through Medication Reconciliation The adoption of the Affordable Healthcare Act has assisted an increasing number of Americans to have access to health insurance. Despite the benefits associated with the new law, the quality of health delivery is still low because of the issue such as medication errors. The poster recommends an implementation of medical reconciliation to improve the quality of healthcare delivery in the United States. The method of
Patient Safety Outcomes to ADN and BSN Nurses: As evident in theme of national reports in the health care field, promoting higher education for registered nurses has been a topic of increased concern. These recommendations are primarily based on overwhelming evidence that nurses with Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degrees tend to pursue education at masters or doctoral levels to enhance the effectiveness of the practices. The pursuit for