Did you ever wonder why a clinician asks you for your full name and date of birth when you check in for an appointment or a procedure? Or why a physician washes his or her hands or puts on a pair of gloves before examining you?
It’s for your safety. At SSM Health, we want to help prevent sickness or injury as well as heal it.
“In reality, every day is patient safety day for us,” said Sumita Markan-Aurora, MD, SSM Health system director for patient safety and clinical outcomes. “But for this one week, we focus even more on patient safety to reflect on the progress we have made in reducing patient harm, thank the caregivers and providers for their continuing efforts, and rededicate ourselves to our continuing efforts to further reduce patient harm.”
Our society rightly celebrates victories in safety in all fields, such as pilot “Sully” Sullenberger, who guided a passenger plane to a safe landing on a New York river. We also mourn those lost to safety errors, like the Challenger space shuttle tragedy.
So, what can we do and what should we do to keep safety first and foremost every day? First, we ask everyone to say a short prayer for patients and caregivers, that the provision of care will be full of compassion and wisdom, and without error.
Next, we ask that we all express gratitude for the progress we have made in the health care industry. We have improved safety and quality over the years, especially in reducing healthcare acquired conditions (HACs). There are fewer infections and fewer pressure injuries. Safe surgery has become the common practice. Medication safety is also better. We have made progress, although more work is needed.
“Our commitment to healing without harm means that we must continue to improve safety and quality, in the best interests of our patients, until we reach what we call Zero Harm,” said Craig Clapper, SSM Health executive advisor for safety and high reliability. “The journey toward zero will mean better care for our patients every step of the way.”
So, the next time when you hear of pharmacists using a practice called “tall-man lettering” to keep from confusing medications with similar names (there are a lot of them), be grateful to live in this day and age.
“Safety is an important priority for us,” said Markan-Aurora.
