Patient safety and satisfaction are two related concepts that go hand in hand. It is expected that patients who are provided with safe care are satisfied. Patient safety describes all the practices and rules aimed at preventing further patient injury including medical error prevention. Medical errors could be either treatment errors, or failure to follow the required care procedures. The objective of patient safety schemes is to reduce the number of hospital acquired conditions cases. . In an attempt to improve patients’ safety, cost is significantly reduced. Studies show that any efforts to enhance or improve the safety of the patients results in significant reduction of patient’s harm and deaths. The Joint Commission plays a critical role in patient safety by providing information to patients, setting standards and continuous evaluation. As a nurse, one could contribute to the safety of the patient by supporting the safety culture, engaging the patients, effective communication, and strictly following basic care checklists. The role of the chief nurse in safety care maintenance cannot be underestimated. The chief nurse office performs leadership, advisory, and administrative roles: he/she sets quality standards, trains the nurses, advices the management on effective patient safety measures and acts as an inspiration to other staff members. Patient safety and satisfaction is best achieved if all members of healthcare organizations effectively perform their duties in collaboration with each other.
Patients’ safety reduces health care costs in several ways. In 2016, medical errors were the eighth leading death causes in the U.S. which was higher than road accidents, AID’s and breast cancer. Healthcare statistics showed that between 0.5 million and 1.5 million admitted individuals were further harmed by preventable medical faults each year (National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), 2016).The annual cost of additional expenses due to medical errors was estimated to be 19.5 billion dollars (NCSL, 2016). The two main expenditures were long hospital stays and the high cost of treating error-related injuries. Strategies such as e-prescribing, regulating working conditions and non-payment for “never events” would significantly reduce the number of medical errors in healthcare systems. In an attempt to improve patients’ safety, cost is significantly reduced. Studies show that any efforts to enhance or improve the safety of the patients results in significant reduction of patient’s harm and deaths.
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Research by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality showed that hospitals had made considerable progress in improving safety of the patients. The number of hospital acquired conditions (HAC’s) reduced by approximately 17 percent between 2010 and 2013 (AHRQ, 2015). Approximately 50,000 deaths were also prevented as a result of reduced HAC’s with almost 80 percent of the deaths averted to 2013. A total of $12 billion healthcare costs were reduced as a result of reduced HAC’s and $8 billion due to the reduced number of deaths (AHRQ, 2015). Patients safety ensures that the number of HAC’s and deaths are significantly reduced which consequently leads to a reduction in healthcare costs.
The joint Commission is a non-profit organization whose major role is accreditation and certification of more than 22,000 healthcare organizations (The Joint Commission, 2018). The Joint commission is a national symbol of quality and a reflection of an organization’s allegiance to meeting specific standards of performance. Their role in healthcare management is clearly outlined in their mission and vision. The mission of the Joint Commission is to improve public healthcare in partnership with stakeholders, by continuously evaluating health care facilities and inspiring excellence in safe and quality care providence (The Joint Commission, 2018). The vision is to ensure that everyone irrespective of their settings experiences high quality and safe healthcare.
The Joint Commission plays a significant role in healthcare management. The commission sets quality standards which are the basis of evaluating and measuring performance in healthcare organizations. The standards concentrate on important functions of the organizations, individuals or patients that are essential to providing high quality and safe care. The standards are developed in partnership with healthcare professionals, government agencies and the consumers (The Joint Commission, 2018). Informed scientific literature and expertise is the basis of the standards. The standards ensure that patients only receive safe care and are satisfied. Secondly, the commission evaluates health care facilities evaluates care processes and technology through surveys. This ensures that the staffs continually work towards improving the performance of the organizations. Thirdly, the Joint Commission focuses on advancing quality and safe care through special programs such as The Speak Up program which encourages patients to be more active (The Joint Commission, 2018). The commission is also committed to providing necessary information to the consumers through a webpage consisting of quality reports on certified programs and accredited organizations. Other roles of the Joint Commission include provision of supportive services and healthcare transformation (The Joint Commission, 2018). The Joint Commission has globally impacted healthcare organizations by ensuring safe and quality care is provided to the patients.
Nurses have a huge role to play at maintaining patient’s safety by preventing medical mistakes and improving patient’s outcome. Supporting the organization’s safety culture is one way of maintaining patient safety. Safety culture ensures that frequent errors and harm are corrected. Supporting the safety culture is an expression of sustained commitment to maintain quality care in the hospitals. Communication is the second way that nurses would ensure that safety is maintained. Nurses are the closest persons to the patients and they should always speak up if anything unsafe comes up, equipment failure or in case they need any assistance in moving the patients or administering medication. Communication would reduce any medical or treatment errors thus ensuring that patients are safe and reduce the risk of hospital acquired conditions. Nurses should strictly follow the basic care routine and checklists. Simple procedures such as turning the patients and oral care could affect the recovery of the patients. Oral care for example, reduces the risk of pneumonia. Fourth, nurses should engage their patients in order to make them feel safe and comfortable. This includes listening to the patient’s questions and asking them about their goals. Engaging the patients is also ethical and ensures that nurses address all the concerns of the patients. Fifth, nurses should get involved in the actual process of ensuring that fellow nurses maintain safety. To contribute to patient’s safety, I would follow these five basic rules.
The Chief Nursing Officer performs many roles ranging from administrative to leadership. A chief nurse has the mandate to maintain patient-care and clinical standards by ensuring that the patients are able to access right and safe medical care (Disch et al., 2011). He/she also offers insights on how the management could improve the quality of services. In some cases the chief nurse officer performs as the hospital CEO. He oversees all the activities within the healthcare facility and ensures that the organization runs as planned. This includes coordinating, organizing and directing health care in compliance with the regulations (Disch et al., 2011). In some instances, he/she hires and trains nurses. The chief nurse ensures that the hired personnel are competent and well knowledgeable of the patient culture of the organization which guarantees quality and safe care to the patients.
The chief nurse performs advisory and leadership roles which ensure that the care provided is sufficient and quality. As a leader, the chief nurse maintains high standards which other staff should follow (Disch et al., 2011). The chief nurse encourages other members to maintain high quality care by doing it herself. Many health organizations treat Chief Nurse Officers as advisers. They perform a significant role in assisting hospitals to run smoothly through training and extensive research (Disch et al., 2011). While the advisory role ensures that the organization runs efficiently, leadership roles encourage the staff to maintain safe and quality care.
Additionally, chief nurses act as a link between the hospital personnel. He/she ensures that administrators, nurses and physicians have a perfect work relationship. The chief nurse ensures that all nurses offer sufficient support to the doctors by either retrieving the patients’ data or following the doctor’s instructions (Disch et al., 2011). This ensures that patients get the required support and are not at a risk of developing any hospital acquired conditions. All the roles of the chief nurse are more focused on providing quality and safe care to patients and ensuring that the standards are maintained at all levels. The role a chief nurse plays is therefore vital and has a great impact on the safety of the patient hence satisfaction.
Patient’s safety ensures that patients are not exposed to further injury or harm. Efforts to maintain patient’s safety leads to a significant reduction in the healthcare expenditure. The Joint Commission plays a vital role in patient safety by providing information to patients, setting standards and continuous evaluation. As a nurse, one could contribute to the safety of the patient by supporting the safety culture, engaging the patients, effective communication, and strictly following basic care checklists. The role of the chief nurse in safety care maintenance cannot be underestimated. The chief nurse office performs leadership, advisory, and administrative roles: he/she sets quality standards, trains the nurses, advices the management on effective patient safety measures and acts as an inspiration to other staff members. Patient safety and satisfaction is best achieved if all members of healthcare organizations effectively perform their duties in collaboration with each other. Patients’ safety positively impacts patients’ satisfaction.
References
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (2015). Efforts To Improve Patient Safety Result in 1.3 Million Fewer Patient Harms.. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. https://www.ahrq.gov/hai/pfp/interimhacrate2013.html Accessed on 2 September, 2019.
Disch, J., Dreher, M., Davidson, P., Sinioris, M., & Wainio, J. A. (2011). The role of the chief nurse officer in ensuring patient safety and quality. JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration , 41 (4), 179-185.
National Conference of State Legislatures (2016). Health Care Provider Patient Safety-Health Cost Containment. Retrieved from http://www.ncsl.org/research/health/health-care-provider-patient-safety.aspx Accessed on 2 September, 2019.
The Joint Commission (2018).The Joint Commission: Inspiring health care Excellence. Retrieved from www.jointcommission.org Accessed on 2 September, 2019.
