Increasing your Hospital’s Patient Safety Levels – by Dr. S Bhowmick, Clinical Director, Peerless Hospital, Kolkata

Let us look at some statistics to further establish the importance of patient safety.

About 5.2 million patients are harmed by medication errors each year in India¹. While, 1 in every 25 patients acquire at least one infection during care². Additionally, 5.1/1000 is the average rate of CLABSIs in India³ and 1 in 2 patients experience a IV catheter-related complication⁴.

It should be noted that all of these complications and issues are preventable. However, if ignored, they end up compromising care and also impact outcomes of a hospital.

For instance, CLABSIs increase the LOS by 9.5 days³, and the attributable cost of the same is estimated in the range of $10,663 – $18,974^3,5 for a hospital. It is also a known fact that excessive use of antibiotics could potentially lead to AMR.

Ignoring patient safety has its own perils and can impact patient satisfaction and affect the reputation of the provider as well.

While, if given proper attention, a hospital can achieve desired outcomes like patient and healthcare worker safety, better patient outcomes and experience, reduction in total cost of care, and improved care delivery and capabilities.

References

1. Jha AK, Larizgoitia I, Audera-Lopez C, et al. The global burden of unsafe medical care: analytic modelling of observational studies. BMJ Qual Saf 2013;22:809–815

2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Healthcare-associated Infections (HAIs) Data and Statistics. Accessed 12 Dec 2017 at https://www.cdc.gov/HAI/surveillance/

3. Mehta Y, et al. Device-Associated Infection Rates in 20 Cities of India, Data Summary for 2004-2013: Findings of the International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium. Infect. Control Hosp. Epidemiol. 2015;00(0): 1-10

4. Helm R, Klausner J, Klemperer J, Flint L, Huang E. Accepted but unacceptable: peripheral IV catheter failure. J InfusNurs. 2015 May-Jun;38(3):189-203

5. Kothari A. et al. Costs associated with hospital-acquired bacteraemia in an Indian hospital: a case-control study. Journal of Hospital Infection (2009) 71, 143-148