Patient Safety

 A client’s health and wellness depend

upon safety. Safety is the number 1
priority in all aspects of care.

 Nurses need to be aware of safety. The

hospital setting is complex, potentially
dangerous & unfamiliar to clients.
 Safety

 Safe care is a basic need of all clients regardless

of the setting.
 Nurses are responsible for providing the client
with a safe environment through the delivery of
professional, quality nursing care that
incorporates safety precautions, infection
control practices, and hygiene assistance.
 Safe environment

 Safety has a positive association with health

promotion and illness prevention.
 A safe environment reduces the risk of
accidents, subsequent alterations in health and
lifestyle, and the cost of health care services.
Ensuring Client safety
 Reduces length of stay & cost of treatment

 Reduces frequency of treatment

 Reduces potential for law suits

 Reduces the number of work-related

injuries to personnel.
 Factors affecting safety
 Age

 lifestyle,

 sensory

 perceptual alterations

 mobility

 emotional state.
Age:-
 Risk for injury varies with chronological age and
developmental stage.
 Health education about preventive measures can
facilitate injury prevention for various age groups. As
infants mature, their potential for injury increases.
 Infants, toddlers, and preschoolers are explorers of their
environment. Most accidents involving these age groups
are preventable with careful adult supervision to prevent
falls from bed, burns, electrical hazards, choking on
small objects, and drowning.
 Adult risk for injury is generally related to lifestyle,
work practices, and behaviors.
 Prevention measures during this period emphasize
nutrition, exercise, and occupational safety.
High-risk factors for this age group include:-
 fatigue
 anxiety
 sleep pattern disturbances
 caregiver role strain
 altered health maintenance
 The older adult is prone to falls, especially in the
bathroom, bedroom, and kitchen, because of a loss
of
agility and visual acuity.
 predisposition to dizziness and syncope, and
side effects of medications.
Prevention measures for this age group by:-
 slow position changes
 good lighting
 hand rails
 skidproof strips in the bathtub or shower and
under rugs and carpets.
Lifestyle
 Lifestyle practices can increase a person’s risk for injury
and potential for disease. Individuals who experience
stress, anxiety, and fatigue; use alcohol and drugs
 live in high-crime neighborhoods are at risk for injury.
 Risk-taking behaviors such as daredevil activities,
driving vehicles at high speeds and smoking are factors
associated with accidents.
Sensory and Perceptual Alterations
 Sensory functions are essential for accurate perception
of environmental safety. If one of the senses is altered,
then the other senses compensate to facilitate perception of
the environment.
 Clients who have visual, hearing, taste, smell,
communication, or touch perception impairments are at
increased risk for injury. These clients are often not able
to perceive a potential danger .
Mobility
 Clients who have impaired mobility are at increased risk
for injury, especially falls.
 Mobility impairments may be a result of poor balance or
coordination, muscle weakness, or paralysis.
Emotional State
 Emotional states such as depression and anger affect a
client’s perception of environmental hazards and degree
of risk-taking behavior. These emotional states alter a
client’s thinking patterns and reaction time.
 Usual safety precautions may be forgotten during
periods of emotional stress.
 Self-confidence decreases when an elderly person falls;
they tend to limit their activities because they fear
falling again.
Types of Accidents
 In the health care setting, accidents are categorized by
their causative agent: client behaviors, therapeutic procedures,
or equipment:
 Client behavior accidents occur when the client’s behavior
or actions precipitate the incident; for example, poisonings,
burns.
 Therapeutic procedure accidents occur during the
delivery of medical or nursing interventions; for example,
medication errors, client falls during transfers, contamination of
sterile instruments or wounds, and improper performance of
nursing activities.
 Equipment accidents result from the malfunction or
improper use of medical equipment; for example,
electrocution and fire.
 National and institutional policies establish safety
standards; for example, the risk for equipment accidents
can be reduced by having the biomedical engineering
department check the equipment inspection label prior
to use.
 All accidents and incident reports must be fully
documented according to institutional protocol.
Potential Occupational Hazards
 Nurses and other health care providers are at risk for
injury in the workplace. Every day in the Unites States,
9,000 health care workers sustain a disabling injury on
the job, according to the National Institute for
Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) (Slattery,
1998).
 The Occupational Safety and Health Administration
(OSHA), a division of the Department of Labor, has the
power to enforce safety standards, and to cite and
discipline agencies that are not in compliance with the
standards (Bending, 2000).
Numerous hazards exist in today’s workplace such as
 latex allergy
 blood-borne pathogens
 work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs)
 chemotherapeutic agents
 environmental pollution

 violence.
Strategies to help reduce falls:
Physical environment
 Keep bed in a low position lock bed /wheelchairs/stretcher
 Identify clients at risk for falls.
Strategies to help reduce falls: (Communication/Assessment:
 Orient client to physical surroundings
 Explain use of call bell
 Assess client’s risk for falling
 Alert all personnel to the client’s risk for falling
 Instruct client and family to seek assistance when
 getting up
 Maintain client’s toileting schedule
 Observe/assess client frequently
 Encourage family participation in client’s care.