Patient Safety in Nursing

Patient Safety

• Patient safety is a fundamental human need
• Nurses are responsible for creating a safe environment for patients
• Professional nursing care includes safety precautions, infection control practices, and hygiene assistance
• This presentation details the nurse's role in these areas

Overview

• Introduction to basic human needs
• Defining safety and a safe environment
• Environmental hazards and factors affecting safety
• Safety process and nursing

Introduction

• Safe care is essential for all patients, regardless of their environment.
• Nurses are responsible for providing a safe environment through high-quality nursing care, incorporating safety precautions, infection control measures, and promoting hygiene
• This presentation describes the nurse's role in these areas

Definitions

• Patient safety is freedom from physical and emotional harm
• Patient safety is defined as the absence of preventable harm to a patient during healthcare delivery
• A safe environment prevents or minimizes the risk of biological, chemical, or nuclear attacks

What is Safety?

• Preventing mistakes
• Following safety guidelines
• Inquiring about accidents/deaths
• Implementing corrective measures and taking responsibility

Estimated Burden of Unsafe Care

• One in ten patients worldwide experience harm while receiving healthcare
• 7% of patients in developing countries and 10% in developed countries develop healthcare-associated infections (HAIs)

Basic Human Needs

• Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is presented
• Includes oxygen, fluids, nutrition, body temperature, elimination, shelter, and sex

Critical Thinking

• Critical thinking is a structured process of applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating information from observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication as evidence for belief and action

Patient Safety and Nursing Process

• Critical thinking is essential in patient safety
• Using the nursing process improves safety

Purpose of Safety in Healthcare

• Reduces illness and injury
• Prevents prolonged treatments/stays
• Improves patient well-being

Purpose of a Safe Environment

• Meeting physical, psychological, and social needs of patients
• Applicable to all places where patients receive care
• Increases patient well-being
• Decreases risk of injury and disease transmission
• Maintains hygiene and reduces contamination

Environmental Hazards

• Physical hazards (lighting, obstacles, bathroom hazards, car accidents, poisoning, fires)
• Factors affecting falls (history of falls, age, low vision, postural hypotension, medication effects, gait and balance issues)
• Disease transmission
• Immunization

Environmental Hazards (Continued)

• Contamination (air, water, noise, biological agents, chemical agents, nuclear materials, etc.)
• Natural disasters
• Man-made disasters
• Terrorism (biological, chemical, etc.)

Child Safety

• Safety education needed
• Teenagers need safe sex education
• 3-year-olds should not sit in the front seat of a car
• Children need to wear safety gear when cycling
• Children need swimming lessons

Patient Safety Factors

• Factors affecting safety at different life stages; infant, young child, preschooler, school-age, adolescent, adult, older adult
• Individual factors related to safety
• Safety hazards within healthcare settings

Safety Hazards in Healthcare Settings

• Medication errors, infections, bedsores, diagnostic delays, falls
• Patient-related incidents (self-inflicted injuries, overdose, drug ingestion)
• Procedure-related incidents (eg, incorrect medication, wrong IV site)
• Equipment-related incidents (malfunctioning equipment)

Medication Safety

• Right patient, right medication, right dose, right route, right time, right reason, right assessment, right documentation, right to refuse
• Proper storage for medications
• Expiry dates for medications
• Poisons and toxic substances stored separately from food and beverages

Fire Safety

• RACE (rescue, alarm, contain, extinguish)
• PASS (pull, aim, squeeze, sweep)

Patient Restraints

• Restraints are used to protect patients, allow treatment in a safe environment, and reduce the risk of harm to others
• Types of restraints (chemical, physical)
• Alternatives to restraints

Evaluation of Patient Safety

• Patient's expectations met?
• Family expectations met?
• Outcomes for each diagnosis monitored continuously

Patient Safety Outcomes

• Safe physical environment
• Patient knowledge of safety
• Injury-free patient