PATIENT SAFETY PRACTICES - NURSES CONCERN

The first principle with respect to the health care system is First do no harm. The patient care process became more complex with the advancement of medical technology. The patient safety is a newer discipline in the healthcare which insists about the preventing, reducing of medical errors. Patient safety has been increasingly recognized as an issue of global importance and in 2002, WHO Member States agreed on a World Health Assembly resolution on patient safety. In recent years there has been an increasing attention on improving quality of healthcare in India within broader Universal Health Coverage (UHC) context. Patient safety has been recognised as one of the key important components of quality of care and many initiatives have been taking place at central and state levels to address diverse issues of patient safety. Challenges in patient safety in India are various, ranging from unsafe injections and biological waste management to medication and medical device safety, high rates of health care associated infections, anti-microbial resistance etc. The major vital component in quality of nursing care is said to be patient safety. Patient Safety is a shared responsibility of all the stakeholders in the health care system like physicians, Nurses, Nurse Educators, Administrators etc. The major responsibility of these stake holders is addressing the safety of the patient.