Patients Safety in National Hospitals

Some of the infections that attack patients

Some of the infections that attack patients are as a result of carelessness from either the patient or the medic attending to the patient. This carelessness rises as a result of the ignorance of both parties of the rules that guide the safety of patients at National Hospitals. As a result, this has seen the introduction of policies and goals that are aimed at protecting the patients and the medics from future infections (Ulrich, 2018). The safety goals should be availed to the patients for them to be able to familiarize themselves with such safety goals and procedures.

Unknown infections from negligence

Several patients have complained of unknown infections that attack them. But when keenly looked into, it is seen that such infections come as a result of negligence from the medics who are handling the medical equipment and procedures that are performed when attending to the patients.

Patients safety always the sole goal

Patients safety is always the sole goal of every health practitioner.

Research review

Infections prevention is the first and the key step towards ensuring the safety of the patients are protected. Therefore, there has been a number of safety goals that have been set aside to ensure that patients are in conditions that are safe for their health. First, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in collaboration with the World Health Organization has proposed the steps and procedure that are to be followed by the patients and the medics when cleaning their hands before handling the treatment tools (Smits, Giesen, Deilkås, Hofoss, & Bondevik, 2018).

Proper hand washing techniques

Those handling the medical equipment should ensure that their hands are always clean before accessing the tools. This will reduce the chances of spreading infections within and outside the facility. Additionally, the medics should come up with steps and goals that guide the patients on the proper hand washing techniques, this will see a reduction on the chance of contamination and spread of infections.

Preventing infections before contamination

Similarly, the medics on their part should also look at preventing infections before they are contaminated since there are a number of diseases that have proven challenging to treat. The health practitioners are guided by some set standards that they adhere to when identifying a possible outbreak of infections and take the appropriate steps towards preventing the outbreak from erupting. Once again, the medics should be in a position to identify the various types of infections their patients are suffering from, that is, in case of blood infections, the medics should be able to know the best way to handle such. Air transmitted contaminations should as well be handled using the most appropriate policy.

Ensuring cleanliness during surgeries

Health practitioners should as well be careful and diligent in their work. During surgeries, they should ensure that the instruments they are using are clean and in good shape (Payne, 2018). They should also ensure that the patients are left in proper condition and their wounds are properly attended to in order to prevent the chances of the patient contaminating infections. The surgery rooms should also be kept clean and tidy all the time as there might arise some emergency situations that require an urgent surgical attention.

Hygiene of public places

Lastly, the hygiene of public places that are shared by patients (for example, toilets and urinal pits) should always be kept clean. When such places are left to be untidy, people stand higher chances of contaminating infections. This can be solved by ensuring that such places are always cleaned following the guidelines of the safety policy of the patients.

Policy neglecting patients’ roles

The policy above mostly addresses the individuals at the higher positions but neglecting the patients without identifying and point to them their roles towards ensuring that their safety goals are achieved. The policy ought to have stated the roles played by the customers towards ensuring that their surroundings are free from contaminations and they are secure from any sort of infections. The guidelines as well majorly focus on the hospital environment as it leaves behind, the dwelling places of the customers which is the most important place that should be kept clean as a way of preventing the patients form any form of infections. On the other hand, the policies do not give the doctors the chance to decide on their own when handling the patients’ safety but instead, the doctors or medics are guided by these rules forcing them to neglect some other areas that are not highlighted in the guidelines.

Conclusion

Patients’ safety is as important as the safety of the medics. Therefore, protections from various infections is a team effort that involves both the patient and the medic. Each individual is therefore expected to play his role effectively without depending on the other. The guidelines given should be a guide towards ensuring the achievement of the patients’ safety goal. They are to be followed by the medics and transfer the knowledge of the guidelines to the patients for usage back at their places of residence. Patients are also called to rise to the occasion by ensuring that they be responsible for their safety both at the health facilities or back at their places of residence. When these are done, the chances of contaminating infections will be completely reduced to almost none.

Reference

Ulrich, B. T. (2018). CNE. The Health and Safety of Nephrology Nurses and the Environments in Which They Work: Important for Nurses, Patients, and Organizations. Nephrology     Nursing Journal, 45(2), 117–168.

Smits, M., Keizer, E., Giesen, P., Deilkås, E. C. T., Hofoss, D., & Bondevik, G. T. (2018).            Patient safety culture in out-of-hours primary care services in the Netherlands: a cross-  sectional survey. Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care, 36(1), 28–35.

Payne, G. M. (2018). Patient Safety & Quality Care. Safety: Are We Better Now? Nephrology     Nursing Journal, 45(3), 293–294.