Tips for Ensuring Patient Safety in Your Medical Practice

Medical malpractice is responsible for about 15,000 to 19,000 injuries and lawsuits each year in the United States. Within many of these lawsuits, patients often state a physician’s failure to diagnose their condition. Some patients also describe injuries sustained during treatment which resulted in a disability.

With this outcome becoming more common over the years, it’s up to doctors and their medical staff to prioritize their patients’ well-being while under their care. Here are tips for ensuring patient safety in your medical practice so you can reduce errors and avoid injuries and fatalities.

Create a Safer Facility Design

While traditional medical facility layouts focus on operational efficiency, many fail to establish a design that focuses on a patient’s safety during treatment. For example, some clinics and hospitals have air quality concerns that can negatively impact at-risk populations.

Creating a safer facility includes working with engineers who can improve the wiring that supports advanced technology. This machinery can reduce errors during surgeries and treatments, while enhanced fixtures mitigate the risk of contagion spread between patients.

Ensure Medical Workers Understand Safety Policies

Ensuring that supporting staff is aware of and understands safety protocols is imperative to enforce organizational safety. For example, when training new employees, administrators want to reiterate the need to report defective medical equipment.

By spotting defective medical devices and informing the administrator, leadership can take appropriate action and decommission equipment, preventing severe patient injuries.

Prioritize Patient-Centered Care

Patient-centered care is paramount when ensuring safety in a medical practice. An individual’s specific health needs and expectations should be the driving force behind all treatment and health-care decisions.

Patient-centered care gives patients control over their treatment as they partner with their providers to create plans that consider their clinical, mental, emotional, social, and financial needs. By working together with their patients, physicians and their supporting staff can construct the critical framework necessary to ensure their patient is safe at all times.

Physicians, supporting staff, and patients should share the same goal of attaining the best treatment while mitigating the risk of errors and mistakes. With these tips, you can take a step toward improved protocols and ensure patient safety in your medical practice.