Guest Author - Helen V. Calalang-Javier, MSN, RNC, IBCLC

Creating and maintaining a culture of safety in the workplace is always the focus of any healthcare setting. Culture of safety is not only about maintaining an environment of care, but changing the mindset and the behavior of all health care workers towards patient safety. This change process is safety-focused and outcome-driven. The process awaits the whole transformation of the staff behavior to model safety. The goal is safety for oneself, for the client, and for other healthcare workers.

The best way in promoting the culture of safety in the healthcare setting is by adhering to the National Patient Safety Goals as recommended by the Joint Commission and Accreditation for Health Organizations (JCAHO). The Joint Commission will be basing their accreditation survey on the compliance to these National Patient Safety Goals. The new process of unannounced visits by Joint Commission in the healthcare setting will start this year. This accreditation process would keep all health care facilities to be ready all the time.

The National Patient Safety Goals are not foreign to the healthcare workers. These should be put into practice for any routine nursing care. Deviating from these standards often times will lead to errors or patient injury. The good news is that these errors can be prevented by these goals.

Here are some examples that are still happening in a regular patient care area; a wrong patient going to a surgery, a patient receiving medication that was meant for another patient, or a baby brought to a different mother. All these occurred because the staff failed to identify the patient correctly. Wrongful action by the caregiver will not only put the patient at risk to injury but also violates their rights to confidentiality and privacy.

This an overview of the 2007 National Patient Safety Goals for the Hospitals:

proper patient identification

better communication among health care workers,

safety in medication administration

reduction of infection risks for healthcare workers

complete listing of patient medications given to all care providers

safety and prevention of the patient from falling

allowance of patient active participation to their care

assessment of patient for suicidal risk

usage of the universal protocol for wrong site surgery

For the complete list and requirements for the National Patient Safety Goals for 2007, visit the Joint Commission’s website link.

For worldwide applications of the Patient Safety Goals for other healthcare facilities accredited by the Joint Commission, refer to the link on International Patient Safety Goals.