Regarding healthcare, patient safety and
quality care aren’t just buzzwords—they’re lifesaving essentials. India’s
leading hospitals, especially in major metros like Mumbai and Delhi, have set
the gold standard for medical excellence, attracting patients from across the
globe. But what exactly are these hospitals doing to ensure the highest levels
of safety and quality?
By Rohit Sharma
In this blog, we delve into the best practices
that make the best hospitals in India leaders in patient care, providing peace
of mind to both local and international patients.
This article discusses patient safety and
quality control practices of some of the best hospitals in India.
What is patient safety and
quality control in hospital healthcare?
Patient safety and quality control refers to
standard procedures and practices that a hospital’s medical and non-medical
staff must follow as preventive measures to minimize patient harm. These
procedures and practices can be dynamic based on continuous learning and
improvement principles.
The best hospitals in India take patient
safety and quality control practices with utmost seriousness and follow
globally recognized safety and QC protocols.
Why is patient safety and
quality control important?
Establishing a culture of patient safety and
quality control is critical for several reasons, like,
●
Ensuring positive patient outcome
●
Earning patient trust
●
Maintaining infection control
●
Earning valuable accreditation
Let’s look at them in detail.
Positive
patient outcome: It is a function of hospital care,
treatment quality, treatment efficacy, patient safety protocols, and quality
control practices. Despite the best quality treatments and care, lapses in
patient safety can seriously jeopardize the outcome of a treatment.
Earning
patient trust: Earning the confidence of patients and
patient families is essential for effective treatment and improving patient
outcomes. Patient trust depends on the quality of doctors, system efficiency,
costs of treatments, and perception of patient safety.
Maintaining
infection control: Hospital-associated infections
(HAIs) can lead to major post-hospitalization complications. It seriously
hampers patient outcomes and compromises patient trust in the healthcare
system. The practice of patient safety and quality control is critical for
controlling HAIs.
Earning
valuable accreditations - Hospital accreditations
formally recognize healthcare standards and quality. Some globally recognized
accreditation, like JCI, NABH, ISQua, and GHA, heavily emphasizes patient
safety and quality control practices. So, any hospital willing to earn these
recognitions must establish and maintain healthcare safety protocols and
quality assurance practices.
What are the components of
patient safety and quality control in hospitals?
The critical components of ensuring patient
safety and quality control in healthcare facilities are:
●
Establishing a culture of safety
●
Following standard safety and QC
protocols
●
Staff training and education
●
Leveraging technologies
●
Active patient communication and
engagement
●
Risk assessment, documentation,
and reporting
●
Initiatives on quality improvement
●
Collaboration and teamwork
Practices for patient safety
followed by the best hospitals in India
All the best hospitals in Bangalore, Delhi,
Mumbai, or any other major Indian cities follow global patient safety practices
as per WHO, JCI, ISQua, NQF, and IOM guidelines. Some best practices include:
●
Establishing a culture of safety
●
Standard safety and QC protocols
●
Staff training and education
●
Use of technologies and hospital
automation
●
Active patient communication and
engagement
●
Risk assessment, documentation,
and reporting
Establishing
a culture of safety
Establishing a culture is critical for any
behavioral change related to safety and quality. The primary step that any of
the best hospitals in India take is
to develop a patient safety culture. It encourages hospital staff to freely
communicate, share information regarding error reporting and acknowledge
mistakes. This helps information to flow within the system faster and take
corrective measures faster.
Following
standard safety and QC protocols
Every top healthcare facility and hospital in
India follows standard protocols and SOPs (standard operating procedures)
related to:
●
Safe surgical procedures
●
Safety of medical devices
●
Medication safety
●
Blood safety
●
Prescription and injection safety
●
Secure childbirth
Staff
training and education
Patient safety and quality control is an
ever-evolving field. For example, significant changes have been incorporated in
safety practices during and after the global pandemic to avoid new health risks
and challenges. It requires continuous training of medical and non-medical
staff in hospitals to improve their understanding and capability to follow
patient safety practices. Any of the best hospitals in Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, or major Indian
cities regularly conduct safety training for their staff.
Leveraging
technologies
Technology is a significant enabler in
maintaining patient safety and controlling the quality of healthcare services
in large hospitals. Hospital automation is the key to minimizing human error,
seamless communication, ensuring preventive practices, and effective
decision-making. Every best hospital in India strongly emphasizes electronic
health data collection and clinical decision support systems.
Active
patient communication and engagement
Patient engagement is the key to shared
healthcare decision-making. It reduces patient anxiety, helps them learn about
their preferences and health conditions, and makes them aware of risks and
benefits before any healthcare procedures. It also encourages a strong sense of
accountability from hospital authority and patients.
Risk
assessment, documentation, and reporting
This is essential for implementing a holistic
approach to hospital patient safety and quality control. Every one of the best hospitals in India maintains
processes related to the following:
●
Collection of patient safety data
●
Analyzing and identifying
potential risk areas
●
Reporting quality and safety
breaches
●
Reporting cases of potential
safety breaches
●
Steps taken to mitigate patient
harms
These processes help take preventive measures
and improve patient safety and quality control framework.
Bottomline
Indian hospitals are claiming top spots in the
ranking of medical tourism destinations worldwide. The reasons are quality
healthcare at competitive prices. However, you do not have to trust anything at
face value. Check Vaidam
Health, one of India’s leading medical travel assistance platforms,
to learn more about the best hospitals in India and their safety practices.
Pharmaceutical Microbiology Resources (http://www.pharmamicroresources.com/)
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