Patient safety strategies - a call for physician leadership

According to the editorial articles in the March issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine , tens of thousands of patients die each year in the US of diagnostic errors, teamwork and communiction errors and failure to receive evidence-based interventions.

A team of experts re-examined 158 patient safety topics and elected 41 for reviews that foucus on emerging data about implementing the strategies. The results have been published in the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) report, "Making Health Care Safer II: An Updated Critical Analysis of the Evidence for Patient Safety Practices
. Annals of Internal Medicine, 5 March 2013, Vol. 158. No. 5_Part_1
The data show that checklists and bundles, that many physicians have been unwilling to consider, can substantially improve patient safety and quality of care. It is important that physicians identify the steps that they will take in the diagnosis and care of the most common clincial problems they confront and follow the protocols with appropriate individual variation.

The report emphasizes the importance that physicians understand the team function and lead by example, hand hydiene is an example of the importance of physician behaviour in reducing hospital-aquired infections.
The reviewers wrote, "Making patients safe requires ongoing efforts to improve practices, training, information technology and culture. It requires that senior leaders supply resources and leadership while simultaneously promoting engagement and innovation by frontline clinicians" .

They recommended 10 patient safety strategies for immediate implementation.

Preoperative and anesthesia checklists

Bundles

that include checklists to prevent central line-associated bloodstream infections

Interventions to reduce urinary catheter use

Bundles of various strategies to prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia

Hand hygiene

The do-not-use list for hazardous abbreviations

Interventions to reduce pressure ulcers

Barrier precautions to prevent infections

Use of real-time ultrasonography for central line placement

Interventions to improve prophylaxis for venous thromboembolisms.

Other recommendations include developing interventions that focus on fall prevention, limiting adverse drug reactions, medication reconciliation, reducing radiation exposure from unnecessary medical procedures and developing better informed consent policies.

To read the free f/t articles :Editorial

• Strategies to improve patient safety: the evidence base matures
• Patient safety strategies: a call for physician leadership

Supplement :
Making Health Care Safer: A Critical Review of Evidence Supporting Strategies to Improve Patient Safety