Patient safety is a significant concern in medical surgery and health care in general. It refers to the absence of preventable harm to patients during healthcare that often leads to adverse events. The National Patient Safety Goals (NPSGs) are promoted by the Joint Commission responsible for accrediting health care facilities and patient safety (Jhaveri, 2020). While making any decision in hospitals, one of the main criteria considered is patient safety. Though sometimes can be compromised, understanding the role of NPSGs in offering safety in healthcare environments is critical. The NPSGs specify the best clinical practice in various areas, such as correct identification of patients, proper communication among medical providers, safe use of medications, prevention of infection, and patient safety risk.
The first goal is to ensure correct patient identification, which entails using at least two identifiers when administering medication or collecting specimens. The acceptable way of identification is through the patient’s name, assigned identification number, or use of a personal telephone number. Another essential safety goal is to improve staff communication within the health facility. This involves getting the proper test to the respective person within the expected time and upon request (Siman et al., 2019). Health care providers must ensure safe use of medicines by labeling all medication containers and solutions and discarding any unlabeled medication. In addition, using the medicine safely ensures accurate records of patients’ medical information are kept.
Preventing infections to the patient is the main goal of the NPSGs. Medical practitioners must ensure they reduce infections due to multidrug-resistant organisms, clean hands before attending patients, and help prevent surgical site infections (El-Jardali & Fadlallah, 2017). As stipulated by the Joint Commission, other goals are identifying patient safety risks by analyzing specific patients’ characteristics and the features of their environment that may increase risk. Prevention of surgical mistakes, patients from falling and periodically reassessing patients’ risk of developing pressure ulcers by preventing bed sores.
References
El-Jardali, F., & Fadlallah, R. (2017). A review of national policies and strategies to improve quality of health care and patient safety: A case study from Lebanon and Jordan.BMC Health Services Research, 17(1), 568-568. Web.
Jhaveri, R. (2020). Patient safety.Clinical Therapeutics, 42(4), 551-553. Web.
Siman, A. G., Braga, L. M., Amaro, Marilane de Oliveira Fani, & Brito, M. J. M. (2019). Practice challenges in patient safety.Revista Brasileira De Enfermagem, 72(6), 1504-1511. Web.