WATCH: 3 Patient Safety Tips All Nurses Should Know

Last week the world commemorated patient safety day and nurses and other health workers on many social media platforms spent the day talking about patient safety. Some in Africa remembered how health workers like nurses manhandled them, and how some of their loved ones died due to medical errors. Some even thought of how there were no repercussions after some health workers or nurses negligently handled them or their loved ones when they were patients.

Why is patient safety important you may want to know, The World Health Organisation, on the issue of patient safety, has always said:

Patient Safety… aims to prevent and reduce risks, errors and harm that occur to patients during the provision of health care. Patient safety is fundamental to delivering quality essential health services. Indeed, there is a clear consensus that quality health services across the world should be effective, safe and people-centred. In addition, to realize the benefits of quality health care, health services must be timely, equitable, integrated and efficient.

World Health Organisation

According to BMJ Journals, an estimated 230 million medical errors occur each year, costing the NHS a staggering £98 462 582 and causing an estimated 1708 deaths. While some cases are pure cases of negligence, others are pure mistakes. While we can not expect all nurses to be perfect people who never err while executing their duties, because their jobs involve sacred human life, we all err as humans. We can only share tips on how to minimize errors and hope for the best.

One can easily conclude that patient safety is important because:

1. It reduces the number and risk of medical errors
2. It saves lives in some cases
3. It is an integral part of the quality health care we offer to the public in general
4. It gives the patients and the public confidence in our services as nurses and health workers and medical institutions.
5. It saves us money and time as it simultaneously reduces medical errors.

The following 3 tips outlined below will help nurses in different fields prioritise patient safety bearing in mind the mentioned reasons why patient safety is imperative

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