Barriers to Improved Healthcare Safety, Essay Example

The quality of healthcare services provided to the patients lies entirely on the quality of health care. To improve the quality of services that patients receives from healthcare we need to address in the safety measures predominant in these institutions. However, Patient’s quality service is still inefficient due to inefficiencies that exist in the healthcare system. Some of these barriers to the realization of improved healthcare safety are as follows:

Firstly, leadership serves a crucial role in hospitals. Poor leadership is the greatest challenge to the realization of the safe healthcare facilities. This is because leaders, who lack skills to articulate the current problems, will lead to accumulation of these problems up to the point where it becomes completely impossible to instigate necessary measures. Healthcare systems may no provide safety environment to patients without proper direction by those involved in the management. Poor leadership will lead to lack of teamwork, vision, and efforts in achievement of the organization objectives (Krause, Hidley, & Pinakiewicz, 2008).

Secondly, culture that derails implementation of safe practices in hospitals accounts for lack of improved quality of the healthcare safety. This is because organization that embraces safety reforms in their healthcare systems acts as a reminder to the employees, to embrace that virtue of safety in their operation. Therefore, lack of this virtue will lead to lack of moral obligations to the nurses or doctors in implementing safety in their hospital; this will lead to serious harms on patients due to negligence of the employees (Runciman, Merry, & Walton, 2007).

Thirdly, failure to incorporate safety curriculum in the education of healthcare providers is another obstacle in the realization of improved healthcare safety. The healthcare providers will not value safety concern in their profession resulting from lack of awareness of the importance of practice in achieving improved healthcare services for patients (Krause, Hidley, & Pinakiewicz, 2008).

Finally, engineers failure to incorporate human factors during designing of medical devices accounts for deteriorated healthcare safety. Some of machine used in healthcare needs to be modified, or removed due to risk they pose to the patients. For example, some of x-rays machines have dangerous radioactive that threatens patient’s safety. Engineers should explore all avenues giving the safety of patients a priority when designing these equipments. Their end objectives should be to maximize the safety of patient hence improving the quality of healthcare. In addition, they should design comprehensive operational manuals with all necessary warnings to ensure optimal utilization of devices (Krause, Hidley, & Pinakiewicz, 2008).

The responsibility to provide safe healthcare service lies with the organization in question. Hospitals faced with the above obstacles can apply the following strategies in improving the welfare of patients. Organization should employ qualified employees for realization safety concerns in the health sector. In addition, it is up to the leadership committee to put in place measures that will promote the culture of upholding healthcare safety in hospitals. Secondly, organization should train its employees on various issues relating to patient’s safety concerning health systems. Finally, decision to purchase a given medical device should put in place the likely result that the device will have on the patient’s safety. Thus, the organization should avoid purchasing any device without proper consideration on the device effects, and should liaise with the manufacture, to ensure the device meets the functionality (Runciman, Merry, & Walton, 2007).

Reference

Krause, T. R., Hidley, J. H., & Pinakiewicz, D. C. (2008). Taking the lead in patient safety: how healthcare leaders influence behavior and create culture. New York: John Wiley and Sons.

Runciman, B., Merry, A., & Walton, M. (2007). Safety and ethics in healthcare: a guide to getting it right. London: Ashgate Publishing.