Patients safety and quality

• Health care provided in a safe manner and a safe community environment is essential for a patient's survival and wel-being.
• A safe environment reduces the risk for illness and injury and helps to contain the cost of health care by preventing extended lengths of treatment and/or hospitalization, improving or maintaining a patient's functional status, and increasing a patient's sense of well-being.
• Safety prevention of accidents and assisting the injured is a fundamental concern of nurses which extends from

  the bedside to the home to the community.
• Information is crucial to safety, clients in an

  unfamiliar environment frequently need specific

  safety information
• ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY

  • A patient’s environment includes physical and psychosocial factors that influence or affect the life and survival of that patient

  • A safe environment protects the staff to function optimally
• 3 things must be met before physical and psychological safety and security can be addressed:

  1. Basic needs
  2. Transmission of pathogens
  3. Physical Hazards
• Types of physical hazards:

  1. Motor vehicle accidents
  2. poison
  3. falls
  4. fire
  5. disasters
• Supplemental oxygen is sometimes required to meet a person’s oxygenation needs. It is combustible. Strict codes regulate the use and storage of medical oxygen in health care facilities.
• • A person’s comfort zone is usually between 18.3° and 23.9° C (65° and 75° F).
• * A pollutant is a harmful chemical or waste material discharged into the water, soil, or air.
• Physical hazards in the environment threaten a person’s safety and often result in physical or psychological injury or death.
• o A poison is any substance that impairs health or destroys life when ingested, inhaled, or absorbed by the body.
• o Bioterrorism is another cause of disaster.
• FACTORS AFFECTING/INFLUENCING PATIENT SAFETY

  1. Age and development/Patient’s developmental level

  2. Lifestyle choices

  3. Mobility and health status

  4. Sensory perceptual alterations

  5. Cognitive status

  6. Emotional State

  7. Ability to communicate

  8. Safety awareness

  9. Environmental factors
• • Awareness is the ability to perceive environmental stimuli and body reactions and to respond appropriately through thought and action
• RISKS IN THE HEALTH CARE AGENCY

  1. Medical errors

  2. Environmental risks
• 1. Medical errors

  -happen when something that was planned as part of medical care doesn’t work out or when the wrong plan was used.

  2. Environmental risks

  • Specific risks to a patient’s safety within the health care environment