Patients at any point need an advanced care and proper safety at all times. According to the Joint Commission, hospitals should focus on seven patient safety goals for 2021 (Clarkson, 2021). The organization uses new evidence on emerging patient safety issues to inform its goals for the coming year. This data inspires other Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare initiatives and teaching materials. Listed below are some of the hospital’s goals and how they align. When delivering care, treatment, and services, make sure to use at least two methods of identifying the patient. Misdiagnosis and mistreatment of patients can occur at any stage of the process.
First, the person for whom the service or treatment is intended must be reliably recognized. A person’s name, a government-issued ID number, a phone number, or other unique identifier is permitted. Unable to speak, babies have fewer identifying characteristics (Clarkson, 2021). Misidentification led to serving a mother’s breastmilk to the wrong newborn, posing a danger of transmitting bodily fluids and possible diseases to the newborn. In this case, all providers must use the same identifying scheme.
In perioperative and other procedural settings, mark all medications, medication containers, and other solutions entering or leaving the sterile field. A syringe is a medication container, while medicine cups and basins are others. Unlabeled containers of medications or other solutions make it impossible to track down the contents. Mistakes occur when drugs and other solutions have been transferred from their original containers to unmarked containers, some of which have been catastrophic. Despite the dangers of this approach, it is a commonplace in many businesses and organizations. Safe medication management requires the labeling of all medications and the containers in which they are stored. This procedure tackles a well-known risk factor in the delivery of drugs in perioperative and other procedural settings.
Reduce the risk of anticoagulant therapy-related harm to patients. Prophylactic anticoagulation for preventing venous thromboembolism in regular settings does not meet these criteria (for example, related to procedures or hospitalization) (Clarkson 2021). Anticoagulation is used to treat several conditions, but the most prevalent include atrial fibrillation, DVT, PE, and mechanical heart valve implant. Complications in administration, monitoring, and patient compliance make anticoagulants more harmful than other drugs. This National Patient Safety Goal may also improve the safety of patients taking this class of medications.
Moreover, to improve patient outcomes, anticoagulation therapy must involve patient education. Patients must obtain anticoagulant education from a medical professional who understands the risks of the medication and how to prevent them (Saptarini, Sujianto, & Nurjazuli, 2021). Warfarin and direct oral anticoagulants are less likely to cause adverse pharmacological events when used as established anticoagulation therapy protocols that involve patient participation. Maintain and convey patient medication information clearly and consistently. There is evidence to suggest that patient’s results can be affected by medication inconsistencies. Reconciliation is a procedure of comparing a patient’s current prescriptions to the new ones that have been prescribed to ensure that there are no differences. The comparison considers the requirement to continue current prescriptions and the potential for duplications, omissions, and interactions. Reconciling pharmaceutical information includes the name of the medicine, dosage, frequency of use, route, and purpose. To ensure the safe prescribing of pharmaceuticals in the future, organizations must identify the data they need to collect and use that data.
References
Saptarini, S. D., Sujianto, U., & Nurjazuli, N. (2021). Patient safety round to improve patient safety goals in hospital inpatient units. Public Health Perspective Journal, 6(2).
Clarkson, K., (2021). National patient safety goals effective January 2021 for the hospital program. Joint Commission.