scholarly journals Book review: Enhancing patient care: a practical guide to improving quality and safety in hospitals

2009 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 522
Author(s):  
Gary Day

WHAT AN INTERESTING, topical and refreshing text on patient safety and quality! As the name of the book implies, this is a practical text that takes the reader systematically through the concepts, practices and pitfalls of implementing a hospitalbased patient safety and quality program. The pleasing aspect of this book is that is written from the perspective of implementing a safety and quality program in an Australian health service. The authors are hands-on clinicians who have written this book like a personal quality journey. This approach has been very effective in presenting the reader with practical applications, approaches and challenges in developing programs that enhance patient care. This offering fills an important gap in the market. There are many texts that approach quality, safety and risk management from a theoretical or quantitative perspective. This book takes the available research and theory and illustrates how a health service can harness the available literature to develop a working guide to improving patient services. The chapter that provided very straightforward explanations of a range of change, motivation and social interaction theories particularly impressed me. One of the real revelations was the chapter that covered eighteen practical steps for implementing a clinical risk management program in a health service. This chapter goes to the heart of why this text is particularly useful. I found the book extremely useful as it provides a great framework for those wanting to start or enhance their hospital-based quality improvement and safety program. The book is well set out, easy to read and provides a wealth of examples of forms, audits and other quality tools ? and at $49.95, this local text is also excellent value for money.

2003 ◽  
Vol 42 (05) ◽  
pp. 503-508 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. E. Garets ◽  
T. J. Handler ◽  
M. J. Ball

Summary Objectives: To heighten awareness about the critical issues currently affecting patient care and to propose solutions based on leveraging information technologies to enhance patient care and influence a culture of patient safety. Methods: Presentation and discussion of the issues affecting health care today, such as medical and medication-related errors and analysis of their root causes; proliferation of medical knowledge and medical technologies; initiatives to improve patient safety; steps necessary to develop a culture of safety; introduction of relevant enabling technologies; and evidence of results. Results and Conclusion: Medical errors affect not only mortality and morbidity, but they also create secondary costs leading to dissatisfaction by both provider and patient. Health care has been slow to acknowledge the benefits of enabling technologies to affect the quality of care. Evaluation of recent applications, such as the computerized patient record, physician order entry, and computerized alerting systems show tremendous potential to enhance patient care and influence the development of a culture focused on safety. They will also bring about changes in other areas, such as workflow and the creation of new partnerships among providers, patients, and payers.


2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 10
Author(s):  
Gillian Jean

Accreditation to demonstrate engagement with the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards (Standards) is compulsory for most hospital and healthcare settings, but to date remains voluntary for private dental practices (PDPs). The regulatory framework governing the dental profession lacks a proactive element to drive improvements in quality and safety of care, and an accreditation scheme can strengthen existing regulation. The current model of accreditation operating in accordance with the Australian Health Service Safety and Quality Accreditation Scheme (Scheme) is based on the Standards, which were written for a hospital model of healthcare service. The majority of PDPs are small office-based businesses with clear leadership structure and employing six staff or fewer. The Scheme is overly bureaucratic given the simplicity of the PDP business model. This article considers whether accreditation has a proven track record of improving quality of service and offers opinions about how a more appropriate safety management program for PDPs may look. What is known about the topic? There has been minimal research about the impact of accreditation schemes in improving patient safety in PDP. What does this paper add? This paper proposes a redesign of the Scheme to make it more relevant to PDPs. The paper offers strategies to minimise duplication of purpose between accreditation and existing legislation; and to strengthen critical elements of accreditation to improve effects on patient safety. What are the implications for practitioners? A redesigned accreditation scheme will support dental practitioners to implement a quality assurance system with improved efficiency, reduced administrative burden, and optimised patient safety.


2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 635-646
Author(s):  
Susan Brandis ◽  
Stephanie Schleimer ◽  
John Rice

Purpose Creating a culture of patient safety and developing a skilled workforce are major challenges for health managers. However, there is limited information to guide managers as to how patient safety culture can be improved. The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of reflexivity and develop a model for magnifying the effect of patient safety culture and demonstrating a link to improved perceptions of quality of care. Design/methodology/approach This research employed a correlational case study design with empirical hypothesis testing of quantitative scores derived from validated survey items. Staff perceptions of patient safety, reflexivity and quality of patient care were obtained via a survey in 2015 and analysed using inferential statistics. The final sample included 227 health service staff from clinical and non-clinical designations working in a large Australian tertiary hospital and health service delivering acute and sub-acute health care. Findings Both patient safety culture and reflexivity are positively correlated with perceived quality of patient care at the p<0.01 level. The moderating role of reflexivity on the relationship between patient safety culture and quality of care outcomes was significant and positive at the p<0.005 level. Practical implications Improving reflexivity in a health workforce positively moderates the effect of patient safety culture on perceptions of patient quality of care. The role of reflexivity therefore has implications for future pre-professional curriculum content and post-graduate licencing and registration requirements. Originality/value Much has been published on reflection. This paper considers the role of reflexivity, a much less understood but equally important construct in the field of patient safety.


2021 ◽  
Vol 51 (5) ◽  
pp. E5
Author(s):  
Dylan Goehner ◽  
Sandeep Kandregula ◽  
Harjus Birk ◽  
Christopher P. Carroll ◽  
Bharat Guthikonda ◽  
...  

OBJECTIVE Postoperative telephone calls are a simple intervention that can be used to improve communication with patients, potentially affecting patient safety and satisfaction. Few studies in the neurosurgical literature have examined the effect of a postoperative telephone call on patient outcomes, although several exist across all surgical specialties. The authors performed a systematic review and analyzed studies published since 2000 to assess the effect of a postoperative telephone call or text message on patient safety and satisfaction across all surgical specialties. METHODS A search of PubMed-indexed articles was performed on June 12, 2021, and was narrowed by the inclusion criteria of studies from surgical specialties with > 50 adult patients published after 1999, in which a postoperative telephone call was made and its effects on safety and satisfaction were assessed. Exclusion criteria included dental, medical, and pediatric specialties; systematic reviews; meta-analyses; and non–English-language articles. Dual review was utilized. RESULTS Overall, 24 articles met inclusion criteria. The majority reported an increase in patient satisfaction scores after a postoperative telephone call was implemented, and half of the studies demonstrated an improvement in safety or outcomes. CONCLUSIONS Taken together, these studies demonstrate that implementation of a postoperative telephone call in a neurosurgical practice is a feasible way to enhance patient care. The major limitations of this study were the heterogeneous group of studies and the limited neurosurgery-specific studies.


2007 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 33
Author(s):  
T. Gondocz ◽  
G. Wallace

The Canadian Medical Protective Association (CMPA) is a not for profit mutual defence organization with a mandate to provide medico-legal assistance to physician members and to educate health professionals on managing risk and enhancing patient safety. To expand the outreach to its 72,000 member physicians, the CMPA built an online learning curriculum of risk management and patient safety materials in 2006. These activities are mapped to the real needs of members ensuring the activities are relevant. Eight major categories were developed containing both online courses and articles. Each course and article is mapped to the RCPSC's CanMEDS roles and the CFPC's Four Principles. This poster shares the CMPA’s experience in designing an online patient safety curriculum within the context of medico-legal risk management and provides an inventory of materials linked to the CanMEDS roles. Our formula for creation of an online curriculum included basing the educational content on real needs of member physicians; using case studies to teach concepts; and, monitoring and evaluating process and outcomes. The objectives are to explain the benefits of curricular approach for course planning across the continuum in medical education; outline the utility of the CanMEDS roles in organizing the risk management and patient safety medical education curriculum; describe the progress of CMPA's online learning system; and, outline the potential for moving the curriculum of online learning materials and resources into medical schools.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Dameff ◽  
Jordan Selzer ◽  
Jonathan Fisher ◽  
James Killeen ◽  
Jeffrey Tully

BACKGROUND Cybersecurity risks in healthcare systems have traditionally been measured in data breaches of protected health information but compromised medical devices and critical medical infrastructure raises questions about the risks of disrupted patient care. The increasing prevalence of these connected medical devices and systems implies that these risks are growing. OBJECTIVE This paper details the development and execution of three novel high fidelity clinical simulations designed to teach clinicians to recognize, treat, and prevent patient harm from vulnerable medical devices. METHODS Clinical simulations were developed which incorporated patient care scenarios with hacked medical devices based on previously researched security vulnerabilities. RESULTS Clinician participants universally failed to recognize the etiology of their patient’s pathology as being the result of a compromised device. CONCLUSIONS Simulation can be a useful tool in educating clinicians in this new, critically important patient safety space.


2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (Supplement_3) ◽  
pp. iii1-iii16
Author(s):  
Claire Kavanagh ◽  
Eimear O'Dwyer ◽  
Róisín Purcell ◽  
Niamh McMahon ◽  
Morgan Crowe ◽  
...  

Abstract Background This study assessed the pharmacist role in an 80 bed residential care unit by: Quantifying the number and type of pharmacist interventions made and their acceptance rate.Assessing impact of pharmacist interventions on patient care.Assessing staff attitudes towards the clinical pharmacist service. Methods This was a non-blinded, non-comparative evaluation of the existing clinical pharmacist service in the unit. All residents were included. All pharmacist interventions over a 10-week period were recorded, then graded according to the Eadon scale1 by a consultant gerontologist and an experienced pharmacist to assess their impact on patient care. Results There were 615 pharmacist interventions. The most common interventions were: Drug Therapy Review, 34% (n=209) Technical Prescription, 26.5% (n=163) Administration, 15.3% (n=94) Drug Interaction, 10.4% (n=64) Medication Reconciliation, 8.5% (n=52) 98% (n=596) of interventions were rated as having significance to patient care, of which: 48.4% (n=298) and 41.8% (n=257) of the interventions rated as ‘significant and resulting in an improvement in the standard of care’1% (n=6) and 0.5% (n=3) rated as ‘very significant and preventing harm’. There was a statistically significant agreement between the evaluators, κw = 0.231 (95% CI, 0.156 to 0.307), p < .0005. The strength of agreement was fair. Of interventions requiring acceptance by medical team (n=335), 89.9% (n=301) were accepted. 95% (n=36) of staff who responded agreed or strongly agreed that improved patient safety resulted from the pharmacist’s involvement in multidisciplinary medication reviews. Over 92% (n=35) agreed or strongly agreed that their experience of the pharmacist was positive. Conclusion The pharmacist has an important role in our residential care unit. Their involvement in the medicines optimisation process positively impacts patient outcomes and prevents harm. Staff perceived a positive impact of the clinical pharmacist service provided on patient care and patient safety.


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