Patient safety is an extremely important issue that needs to be addressed as healthcare providers aim to keep the healthcare system as safe as possible. National Patient Safety Awareness Week, which lasts from March 14-20, 2021, is an annual event created to encourage people to learn more about safe care.
What is Patient Safety?
Patient Safety is a health care discipline that emerged with the evolving complexity in health care systems and the resulting rise of patient harm in health care facilities. It aims to prevent and reduce risks, errors and harm that occur to patients during provision of health care. A cornerstone of the discipline is continuous improvement based on learning from errors and adverse events.
~ World Health Organization
There are several ways to create a culture of safety in your healthcare practice. Focusing on clear communication, anticipating possible problems for early detection and resolution, applying “high reliability” techniques to increase overall mindfulness, and using other risk management methods within your practice will help you keep your patients safe as you provide the care they require. The goal is to minimize patient harm by making concerted, focused efforts to safely operate while addressing any errors or other issues that could impact the safety of patients immediately and directly.
The goal of all healthcare providers is to keep their patients safe and free from harm. All healthcare professionals play a role in creating a culture of safety within their individual practices and throughout the field of healthcare. They can achieve this through communication, collaboration, team-building training, and organization of resources, as they look for solutions to patient safety problems.
Patients play a role in improving patient safety, too. They should be active in their care and engage healthcare providers to make sure the care they receive is on target; patients should be as educated and well-informed as possible about their health and wellness needs and the options for how those needs can/will be met. They should learn as much as they can about all aspects of their care, from paperwork to pain management, and participate in all healthcare-related decisions.
In this time of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is even more important than ever that healthcare providers ensure that safe care environments are available to patients. Patient safety is central to providing consistent and quality healthcare. It can be accomplished by implementing procedures and protocols for use of best practices (e.g., transparency and clear communication between providers and patients, accurate adverse event reporting, clear labeling and distribution of medications, etc.). National Patient Safety Awareness Week is a great time to learn more about how your practice can improve at keeping patients safe while you provide the health services that they need.
Quick Claimers Medical Billing is a medical coding and billing company based in El Paso, Texas. Quick Claimers is committed to serving healthcare professionals by providing effective and impactful medical coding and billing solutions tailored to each provider’s individual needs. If you would like more information about enhancing your healthcare business and increasing your revenue, please reach out to the specialists at Quick Claimers. The team can be contacted by visiting their website, by email at info@qcmbinc.com, or by phone at 915-351-6600.