Unwanted effects secondary to health care represent a cause of high morbidity and mortality in all developed health systems. To the personal consequences on patients’ health due to these damages, we must add their high economic and social impact.
Therefore, improving patient safety has been a priority strategy in the quality policies of health systems and strategies have been adopted by various international organizations (EU, WHO, OECD, etc.) to address the occurrence of adverse events related to healthcare.
Objectives:
-Promote and develop knowledge and culture of patient safety among professionals at any level of health care.
-Design and establish systems for the communication of incidents related to patient safety.
-Implement through agreements with the Autonomous Communities projects that promote and evaluate safe practices in 8 specific areas.
-Strengthen quality systems for transfusion centers and services.
-Develop measures to improve the quality of the processes of the National Transplant Organization.
From hand hygiene, safe medication administration, safe injections, safe surgical procedures, safety in general procedures in healthcare facilities and patient safety requires constant vigilance and measures. Patient safety is the cornerstone of quality in healthcare and requires individual and team approaches.
Patient Safety, a key component of quality care, has acquired great relevance in recent years both for patients and their families, who want to feel safe and confident in the health care received, and for managers and professionals who want to offer a safe, effective and efficient healthcare.
The harm that can be caused to patients in the healthcare field and the cost they pose to healthcare systems are of such relevance that the main health organizations such as the World Health Organization, as well as various international agencies and organizations have developed strategies. in recent years to propose plans, actions and legislative measures that allow controlling avoidable adverse events in clinical practice.
In this context, the Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality, in its responsibility to improve the quality of the health system as a whole, as established by Law 16/2003, on cohesion and quality of the National Health System, has placed security of the patient at the center of health policies as one of the key elements of quality improvement, thus being reflected in strategy number 8 of the Quality Plan for the National Health System, which has been developed since 2005 in coordination with the Autonomous Communities.
Recommended links:
– Patient safety. Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality.