Patient Safety
Article Source: HealthSnare.com
Patient Safety is becoming more and more important in modern day hospitals, and the actual phrase has become much used in the medical world as of late, with staff keen to make sure that their institutions provide a safe and calming atmosphere for those that need medical care. Doctors, nurses, and surgeons, have made certain provisions in order to make sure patient safety is of upmost importance, and that those admitted to hospitals receive the greatest care and attention. These provisions focus around the idea of cleanliness, and preventing infections spreading. Healthcare-associated infections are one of the most pressing issues facing our health services today.
According to the Department of Health one in ten patients acquires a HAI, and those who do contract an infection stay in hospital nearly three times longer than ordinary patients, placing tremendous financial pressure on our already strapped-for-cash health services. However, aside from infections, there are indeed other factors that hospital staff must keep in mind in order to make sure patient safety is at the optimum standard - one of these factors is to re-engineer hospital discharges. This essentially means that staff are working to reduce potentially preventable readmissions by assigning themselves to work closely with patients to reconcile medications and schedule any necessary follow up medical appointments. Creating a simple and easy-to-understand discharge plan for an outgoing patient that contains a medication schedule, a record of all appointments and the names and phone numbers of those to call if problems arise, can be hugely beneficial to the safety of that patient, and AHRQ-funded research shows that taking these steps can help reduce potentially preventable readmissions by 30 percent.
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Stephanie Wood
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Date: Sun, 25 Apr 2010 Time: 4:16 AM
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