by staff

Patient safety today has become a crucial concern in the health industry. Doctors and nurses are responsible for ensuring the well-being of the people under their surveillance to improve patient outcomes. Studies have shown that millions of patients suffer from injuries or even pass away because of unsafe health conditions in modern-day hospitals. We shouldn’t disregard how dangerous these conditions are for patients in healthcare institutions. Moreover, 80% of medical mistakes are preventable. We’ll now explain how the nursing staff can improve patient safety and enhance the quality of care at work.

How do you improve patient safety at work?
What does patient safety mean? Patients suppose that healthcare institutions are the safest places now on earth. However, many kinds of dangers are lurking today in hospitals. Patient safety is preventing these dangers and avoiding any harm to reach patients. Moreover, the American Board of Preventive Medicine believes that patient safety means the removal of accidental patient injuries caused by health workers. So, how can nurses take part in patient safety initiatives? Nurses have a bond of trust with patients, making RNs more capable of ensuring patient safety and advocating on their behalf. So, here is what patients can do to enhance the quality of care at work. But RNs should hone their learning!

Nurses can bring some real change by implementing the below-mentioned policies. And improving their academic acumen seems like the best method to drive policy-making changes. We suggest RNs now learn which degrees they can obtain. What is RN MSN meaning in the nursing field? A nurse with a bachelor’s in nursing is called BSN to MSN.

Similarly, today’s nurse with an associate degree will be labeled RN to MSN. Earning this degree will enable you to reach leadership positions in nursing to bring some policy changes and ensure patient safety effectively. Now, we’re describing what healthcare managers can do to enhance the quality of care at work. Here are some of our fair proposed strategies:

1. Build better teams:
You should learn about teamwork in nursing and how effective team building can lead to better patient outcomes. Ensure that your nursing workforce knows how to communicate as a team. Nurses must share the necessary information with their coworkers to reduce human errors. For improved patient safety, nurse management should establish a fast response system. Your staff can attend training classes to hone their team-building skills and improve their performance.

2. Monitor your patients:
Health workers cater to several patients simultaneously and can’t divide their attention effectively among them. We suggest establishing monitoring technology to help health workers care for every patient simultaneously without undermining patient outcomes. Hospitals take great measures to ensure patient safety, such as alarms blaring when a patient falls or barcodes that ensure the right drugs are administered. The technology can reduce human errors in hospitals.

3. Limit shift durations:
Exhausted health workers lead to more medical mistakes. Surveys have shown that 43% of workers in 2020 were overworked due to the pandemic. Limiting shift durations will allow these RNs to hone their mental health, thereby causing better patient outcomes. Fatigued medical residents should not be allowed to cater to patients’ needs until they have rested properly. Having enough sleep must be mandatory for health workers. Only then, can you improve patient safety and care quality at work.

4. Understand safety policies:
Managers must ensure that health workers are familiar with safety policies to ensure fewer injuries. Besides safety training, you must ensure that your workforce remains updated about the changes in these policies. Empower your employees to express any concerns they have about safety policies fearlessly. Making every worker understand healthcare guidelines will enable them to become careful about patient safety. That’s how medical mistakes are decreased, and patient safety is ascertained.

5. Educate your patients:
Educating your patients will enable them to take matters into their hands, thereby reducing mistakes committed by health workers. So, inform them about their caregiving and empower them to handle their well-being. Even a low-level understanding of their diseases and treatments can protect them from medical injuries. For instance, the patient can stop a tired nurse from administering the wrong medication.

6. Prevent hospital-acquired infections:
Hospital-acquired infections have become common in our country. We learned that every 25th patient in American hospitals each year gets these HAIs that lead to further injuries and even deaths. A patient may also develop other issues resulting from their hospitalization, such as HA-VTE, a condition in which a patient develops blood clots. Preventing these conditions can help patients survive their stay in a hospital effectively. Several healthcare guidelines are available to deal with similar problems now.

7. Collaborate with PSOs:
Healthcare managers can also collaborate with PSOs or patient safety organizations to ascertain the safety of patients. Think of these organizations as your partners in the movement to improve patient safety. You may share some information with them, and they can process this information to identify what you’re doing wrong. Their analytical abilities can help healthcare managers hone their policies and improve safety guidelines. This collaboration will reduce patient safety concerns for you.

8. Follow hand washing procedures:
The pandemic made it clear to everyone that hand washing can protect patients from different sorts of injuries. It’s been obvious since the 19th century that washing your hands can remove germs; thus, doctors won’t transfer them to another patient. The CDC wants health workers to utilize an alcohol-based sanitizer that kills more germs. Moreover, educate patients about the importance of hand washing. Make this procedure normal in your institution and save your patients.

Conclusion
What makes healthcare institutions risky for patients? Medical mistakes have become the third-leading cause of death in the United States today. We’ve mentioned some strategies to help nurses prevent any medical mistakes in the future. So, they should understand safety policies and educate their patients. An educated patient leads to fewer medical injuries. Also, hospital managers must limit shift durations since exhausted health workers are more prone to making mistakes. Follow proper hand washing procedures. Monitor your patients to avoid any accidents. These techniques can help our health workers boost patient safety successfully.

Paid post