Apollo Hospital Muscat, WHO join hands for patient safety initiative

MUSCAT: Oman is slowly but steadily emerging as one of the most sought after healthcare destinations in the GCC region with new players foraying into the segment in the form of upcoming hospitals, clinics and medical centres.

While this indicates a great future ahead in terms of strengthening the medical infrastructure of the country, we often tend to overlook a vital aspect of the healthcare services, which is patient safety.

Understanding this need, Apollo Hospital Muscat has taken the initiative to launch a comprehensive patient safety programme under the aegis of World Health Organization (WHO). This programme would enhance patient safety by developing synchronised standards in terms of patient care by implementing high-reliability practices as part of quality improvement and by encouraging the participation of not only the doctors, but the entire team including hospital managers, nursing and para-medical staff along with the patients to collaborate in this effort for a safe healthcare delivery system.

The Patient Safety Friendly Hospital Initiative (PSFHI) works on a two-fold approach adopted by the WHO which may be divided into an assessment phase followed by an improvement phase. The assessment of hospitals involves development and validation of an instrument to systematically identify and assess the practices related to patient safety. Following this, the assessment and measures introduced will subsequently improve the level of patient safety in the hospital while ensuring a standardised means to determine patient safety.

A culture of safety requires a shared recognition among all members of a health care organisation, with regularly and rigorously enforced measures by professional and organisational leaders with the understanding that health care is a highly complex, error-prone, and thus high-risk frame work.