patientsafety

Patient safety is the discipline focused on preventing harm to patients during the provision of health care. It encompasses the processes, policies, and culture that aim to reduce the incidence of adverse events, medical errors, injuries, and other harm that could be avoided with better systems. Although errors can occur at any point in care, patient safety emphasizes system-based solutions rather than blaming individuals, recognizing that complex health care environments contribute to risk.

Key areas include medication safety (prescribing, dispensing, administration errors), infection prevention and control (hand hygiene, sterile technique, preventing hospital-acquired infections), procedural and device safety, surgical safety, diagnostic accuracy, patient falls prevention, and safe use of imaging and radiation.

Strategies include creating a safety culture, encouraging reporting of incidents and near-misses, conducting root cause analysis to identify contributing factors, and implementing standardization and checklists to reduce variability. Communication at handoffs, teamwork training, patient and family engagement, informed consent, and transparency about safety events are important. Use of data and measurement, such as safety indicators, audits, and benchmarking, supports ongoing improvement. Technology and informatics, like electronic health records and decision support, can aid by flagging potential errors and providing reminders.

Impact includes reductions in preventable harm, lower mortality and morbidity, shorter hospital stays, and lower costs. Patient safety is a core component of health-system quality and is pursued through national policies, professional guidelines, and international collaborations aimed at learning from errors and spreading effective practices.