1 RUNNING HEAD: CLIENT SAFETY

Client Safety Writing Assignment 1.1 NU 110 Tiffany Feliciano ITT Technical Institute Orland Park March 27, 2012

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Patient safety is universally defined as the prevention of physical hurt, harm or injuries, whether intentional or unintentional, of those who are hospitalized or in a nursing facility. Patient safety has and will always be a major concern to healthcare facilities across the world, as the comfort and safety of patients and their families while they are under and institutions care reflects highly on the institutions character and for lack of a better phrase, protecting patients is just morally right. One of the major concerns for example, in regards to patient safety is preventing HCAI or a healthcare associated infection. This particular kind of infection is defined as an infection acquired as a result of a procedure or treatment that a patient received from a healthcare provider or at a facility. Every day, at any given moment a patient in a healthcare facility can acquire or is at risk of acquiring an HCAI, however with the proper protocol, leadership, teamwork, communication and education, the risk can be lowered. Healthcare facilities should have a leader or team manager in place to ensure that all infection precaution protocol is being taught properly to healthcare personnel, and that the protocol is patient centered meaning that the best interest of the patient is always top priority. The leader or manager should also make sure that in- service meeting are held to keep staff up to speed on new and changing infection precaution protocol. Staff members should work together and help each other and also see to it that infection precaution protocol is being followed and if they have an idea for improvement of protocol they should address it with the team manager, this is part of communication. Communication is the

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key that ties all of the aspects of patient safety together. If there is no communication then healthcare teams wont know what their patients do and do not need, they will not know if the protocol they have put into effect is working or not. With proper communication, leadership, teamwork and the proper protocol, the risks of HCAIs can be greatly reduced and overall patient safety will improve. Patients have the right to feel that everything that can possibly be done to ensure their safety is being done and with a few improvements to current protocol and patient safety systems, healthcare facilities around the world can reassure their patients that they are top priority.

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Bibliography
Cole, M. (2011). Nurse Lecturer, University of Nottingham. British Journal of Nursing , 1-3.