Patient Safety Awareness Week

Patient Safety Awareness Week is an annual event intended to encourage everyone to learn more about health care safety. 

 

The World Health Organization estimates that 134 million adverse events occur each year due to unsafe care in hospitals in low- and middle-income countries, resulting in some 2.6 million deaths (2019). Additionally, some 40 percent of patients experience harm in ambulatory and primary care settings with an estimated 80 percent of these harms being preventable, according to WHO.

 

Recent studies of medical errors have estimated errors may account for as many as 251,000 deaths annually in the United States, making medical errors the third leading cause of death. 

 

Patient Safety Week is a way to reinforce, through a strong culture of safety – patient safety through communication and education.

 

Policies and procedures are important components of patient safety. Policies and procedures must be reviewed, updated, and approved due to regulatory changes, updates in evidence-based practice, and/or new technologies. To ensure patient safety, staff must receive communication and education.

 

Let’s face it, reviewing and updating of policies and procedures falls to the bottom of the to-do list.  Finding the current version of a policy and procedure, and then walking it from desk to desk for review and approval is cumbersome and not time efficient. Then after a P&P is developed or updated, how do you communicate and educate changes to your staff?

 

Properly written, executed, disseminated, communicated, and audited policies and procedures provide a safer and more effective patient care environment within a healthcare organization. MCN Healthcare Policy Management Solutions has your back.  

 

Book your free demo now to see how Policy Manager, Policy Library, StayAlert! and our web-based LMS and content will help your organization create a safe patient care environment.