The importance of patient safety cannot be understated, especially amid a massive nursing shortage affecting the US and the world. Although nursing is the largest healthcare profession, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that the US alone would need more than 275,000 additional nurses between 2020 and 2030.
This article discusses what patient safety is and why it’s important. It also provides helpful strategies that healthcare facilities can implement to promote a culture of patient safety in organizations.
What is patient safety?
Patient safety is a healthcare quality movement that deals with acts that prevent accidental or preventable harm to patients by preventing errors from occurring, learning from errors that do occur, and involving healthcare professionals, organizations, and patients.
A 2023 article published in the National Library of Medicine describes the aspects of patient safety, which are as follows:
| Aspect | Description |
| Minimizing harm | Implementing rules and safety policies to reduce medical errors and injuries, especially within hospital systems |
| Improved health outcomes | Safe care leads to better medical results, recovery rates, fewer complications, and shorter hospital stays. Patient feedback helps improve quality |
| Building trust and confidence | Vital for patient-provider trust. Competency in healthcare personnel enhances safety awareness and global healthcare prioritization |
| Cost reduction | Patient safety measures minimize healthcare costs associated with errors and adverse outcomes compared to standard care |
| Continuous improvement | Safety plans cultivate a culture of continuous improvement. Trials focus on improving outpatient care and patient involvement in primary care |
| Legal and regulatory requirements | Healthcare organizations adhere to legal standards; evolving health expectations emphasize patient and family participation and data protection |
Strategies to promote patient safety
To cultivate a culture of patient safety throughout the organization, healthcare facilities must consider adopting the following strategies:
Empower employees to be vigilant and speak up about safety concerns
Everyone should be engaged and have the ability to communicate their concerns regarding patient safety to prevent accidents and errors. The responsibility of raising concerns shouldn’t just fall on certain individuals, such as managers or system designers, but on the entire team. Healthcare facilities should ensure that all employees, regardless of role, are encouraged to be on the lookout for any unusual or atypical event in the workplace and feel safe to speak up about it. Fostering a safe environment wherein everyone can communicate their concerns without fear of reprisal can allow proper courses of action to take place promptly and significantly reduce the number of accidents and errors.
Effective communication practices — ones that promote timely and accurate event reporting, active listening, use of appropriate handover tools, and culturally sensitive verbal and nonverbal communication cues — should be part of regular training sessions for all healthcare team members.
Conduct appropriate and regular patient safety training
For healthcare workers and staff members to be able to call out safety inadequacies and concerns, they must be knowledgeable of what they are. This is where regular patient safety training comes in. The entire healthcare staff must be adequately and continuously trained on patient safety topics, such as infection control, medication administration, and emergency preparedness, to improve everyone’s safety competence levels.
Undergoing regular safety training sessions can significantly improve healthcare professionals’ decision-making and clinical judgment. This is especially important for novice nurses, who may not have had enough patient safety training at school. Meanwhile, more experienced nurses can benefit from regular patient safety training to keep their knowledge and skills up-to-date.
Ensure that resources for healthcare workers are sufficient
For healthcare workers to function optimally, healthcare facilities must ensure that they have enough resources to provide patient-centered care at all times. Investing in the proper tools and technologies, such as electronic health systems (EHRs) powered by artificial intelligence (AI) can ensure that healthcare workers aren’t bogged down doing administrative tasks and can focus on other more important tasks. With these AI-powered healthcare tools, nurses can create clinical documents, request prior authorizations, and collaborate with other healthcare professionals in a more streamlined manner.
Aside from acquiring the right tools, healthcare facilities must also ensure that staffing levels are adequate so as not to overwhelm and burn out nurses. Healthcare facilities can benefit from working with healthcare staffing agencies to ensure that they always have skilled and experienced healthcare professionals to deliver quality care and address fluctuating patient demands.
At Oculus Health, we offer comprehensive healthcare staffing solutions designed to support healthcare organizations in delivering effective patient care while reducing costs. Scale your organization and enhance patient safety with top healthcare talent. Learn more about our healthcare staffing solutions here.
