Building Safety Culture

To ensure zero medical harm, we need to build a patient safety culture across ranks, in hospitals and individual practitioners. Patients also need to be proactive in this endeavour. Quality circles is a continuous process of identifying problems, and finding solutions to them. Regular training, and audits and monitoring will ensure compliance. Recognition of best practices and champions will ensure motivation. This section contains some suggestions and real case examples of successful trying.

BUILDING PATIENT SAFETY CULTURE IN MEDICAL FACILITY 

 Quality circles and Continuous improvement cycles- To help mitigate the risk of errors and their consequences, ECRI recommends facilities establish effective workflows that involve clinical and service staff inputs. Some of the steps:

  • incorporate quality checks throughout the treatment or diagnostic process,
  • provide continuing education opportunities for staff.
  • Establishing relationships with instrument manufacturers and accessing resources 
  • Collaborate with other Quality and research organisations
  • Conduct training of existing and new staff and practitioners by incorporating latest techniques and scientific progress
  • Report freely and frankly the incidents of harm and special success
  • Analyse in a cross functional and cross structural teams, the cause and effect of existing practices
  • Share Best Practices with a larger audience at State, or National or International levels, to benefit more patients
  • Patient Safety Champion awards to recognise meritorious work accomplished
  • Training modules on line and off line to be vetted by ICMR or CAHO etc..
  • Continuous improvement, Policy changes, Education, Training and practice
  • Continuous Monitoring and Audit of Best Practices in Patient Safety
  • National accreditation and approving and quality organisations, policy makers like CAHO, NABH, QAI should first approve new innovation regularly
  • make it mandatory to implement improved processes, procedures in existing and training practitioners.
  • Then audit and monitor the same with necessary documentation
  • Due Recognition can be given to successful medical practitioners
  • Build Patient Safety into a compulsory accreditation requirement