According to the World Health Organization during the care process in health care organization it is important to prevent and reduce unnecessary harm to the patient in order to ensure patient safety (who,int, 2018). However, it has been argued that at every point of care process a certain degree of unsafety is associated with the care process. Number of studies and research have identified significant cases of unnecessary harm due to the lack of proper interventions related to patient safety. Such lack of patient safety could lead to permanent injury, increase the time period of stay in the hospital, as well as death in some severe cases. Thus, effective care policies, interventions and proper steps have been taken by the health care organizations in the recent year in order to reduce the risk of unnecessary harm due to lack of patient safety (Olds et al., 2017, p. 155-161). Using safety checklist has been considered as the one of the most effective step in improving patient safety. In order to improve the quality of care and patient safety most of the health professionals are preferring to utilize safety checklist to reduce the patient harm and eradicate the medical errors in an effective manner (Thomassen et al., 2014, p. 5-18). In the year 2010, the Health Leaders Media Industry Survey has indicated that 88.8% of health professionals prefer to use safety checklist in order to prevent errors (Borchard et al., 2012, p. 925-933).
Research has reported many benefits of using safety check lists in the health care organization in order to order to improve patient safety in an effective manner. The safety checklist helps to promote the improvement and increase the patient safety. Introducing a formalized process for using safety checklist reduces the number of errors caused due to lack of information, miscommunication and inconsistent process (Russ et al., 2013, p. 856-871). Using a safety checklist helps to improve the process of patient transfer and discharge process in hospitals. Beside the improvement in the service, safety checklist helps to create self-confidence within the health professionals that the treatment process is completed in an accurate way (Thomassen et al., 2014, p. 5-18). Study has reported that in the recent patient safety process the process of summarizing the evidence in a safety checklist has been considered as the compulsory action, as it helps to recognize the barriers in the implementation process, measure the performance of the evidence and ensure that all patients get the evidence for their treatment. It indicates that the decisions taken by the professionals are best to achieve desired outcomes (Borchard et al., 2012, p. 925-933). On the other hand it has been found that checklist helps to improve communication, thus improves patient-physician relationship as it helps to manage diffuse situation and avoid litigations (Russ et al., 2013, p. 856-871). Hence, it can be said that in improving the quality of care and patient safety to avoid unnecessary harm, safety checklist plays an important role. The most interesting part is that the safety checklist is a free resource for the health care organization and the benefits are not limited. Thus, Thomassen et al., (2014, p. 5-18) have recommended the health facilities to adapt safety checklist in order to improve their service, avoid errors and ensure patient safety.
References:
Borchard, A., Schwappach, D. L., Barbir, A., & Bezzola, P. (2012). A systematic review of the effectiveness, compliance, and critical factors for implementation of safety checklists in surgery. Annals of surgery, 256(6), 925-933.
Olds, D. M., Aiken, L. H., Cimiotti, J. P., & Lake, E. T. (2017). Association of nurse work environment and safety climate on patient mortality: A cross-sectional study. International journal of nursing studies, 74, 155-161.
Russ, S., Rout, S., Sevdalis, N., Moorthy, K., Darzi, A., & Vincent, C. (2013). Do safety checklists improve teamwork and communication in the operating room? A systematic review. Annals of surgery, 258(6), 856-871.
Thomassen, Ø., Storesund, A., Søfteland, E., & Brattebø, G. (2014). The effects of safety checklists in medicine: a systematic review. Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica, 58(1), 5-18.
who,int. (2018). Patient safety. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/patientsafety/en/
