Join hands for patients safety

Patient safety is the central to the Hippocratic Oath that says "To prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone."
Improving patient safety and reducing medical errors is a challenge faced by healthcare organisations all over the world. Healthcare in Bangladesh is not in a good shape when compared to other industries in terms of creating safer systems. Errors are usually provoked by weak or inadequate systems within and across healthcare organisations.
In October 2004, World Health Organisation (WHO) launched the World Alliance for Patient Safety urging WHO and Member States to pay the closest possible attention to the problem of patient safety. WHO recommended the following points to consider for patient safety:
• Look alike, sound-alike medication
• Patient identification
• Communication during patient hand-overs
• Performance of correct procedure at correct body site
• Control of electrolyte solutions
• Assuring medication accuracy at transitions in care
• Avoiding catheter tubing mis-connections
• Single use injection devices
• Improved hand hygiene
Other examples may include standardising approaches, decreasing complexity, and incorporating human factors design.
Patient safety requires well designed processes and structures for delivering quality healthcare services. Competent, conscientious and risk-aware healthcare providers are also important. Patient safety initiatives in other countries identify different issues and opportunities for patients' safety improvement.
It is high time to establish a patient safety organisation in Bangladesh under Hospital management experts and clinicians. Eventually they will develop an accreditation board for hospitals and healthcare providers.