Quality and Safety Terms Flashcards

Safety Events Definitions

• Serious Safety Event: Reaches the patient and results in moderate to severe harm or death.
• Precursor Safety Event: Occurs, reaches the patient, and results in minimal or no detectable harm.
• Near Miss Safety Event: Does not reach the patient; error is caught by detection barriers or chance.
• Safety Event: Event, incident, or condition that could potentially cause direct harm to a patient.
• Adverse Event: A patient safety event that results in harm to a patient.
• Sentinel Event: A significant adverse event not primarily related to a patient's illness; results in death, permanent harm, or severe temporary harm (e.g., wrong breast removed).
• No Harm Event: Reaches the patient but causes no harm (e.g., wrong medication with no adverse reaction).
• Close Call / Good Catch: A patient safety event that did not reach the patient.

Hazardous Conditions

• Hazardous (Unsafe Conditions): Circumstances that increase the likelihood of an adverse event, aside from the patient’s own condition (e.g., violence).

Joint Commission Safety Goals

• Identify patients correctly.
• Improve staff communication.
• Use medicines safely.
• Use alarms safely.
• Prevent infection.
• Identify patient safety risks.
• Prevent mistakes in surgery.

Improvement Strategies

• Quality Improvement Focus: Emphasize patient-centric approaches, teamwork, and data utilization.

Barriers to Quality Improvement

• Organizational culture challenges.
• Miscommunication and misunderstanding issues.
• Improper problem identification.
• Inadequate constituency involvement.
• Unrealistic goals and plans.
• Insufficient follow-up and evaluation.

Engagement and Satisfaction

• Engagement and patient satisfaction are closely linked (True).

Quality Improvement Model

• Most Used Model: PDSA Cycle (Plan-Do-Study-Act).
  • Plan: Identify the goal.
  • Do: Implement the plan.
  • Study: Monitor outcomes.
  • Act: Integrate learnings to adjust the goal and plan the next cycle.

Explore essential terms in quality and safety within healthcare through these flashcards. Each card defines important events that impact patient health, ranging from serious safety events to near misses. Enhance your understanding and improve safety practices in your environment.