This book explores patient safety themes in developed, developing and transitioning countries. A foundation premise is the concept of ‘reverse innovation’ as mutual learning from the chapters challenges traditional assumptions about the construction and location of knowledge. This edited collection can be seen to facilitate global learning. This book will, hopefully, form a bridge for those countries seeking to enhance their patient safety policies. Contributors to this book challenge many supposed generalisations about human societies, including consideration of how medical care is mediated within those societies and how patient safety is assured or compromised. By introducing major theories from the developing world in the book, readers are encouraged to reflect on their impact on the patient safety and the health quality debate. The development of practical patient safety policies for wider use is also encouraged. The volume presents a ground-breaking perspective by exploring fundamental issues relating to patient safety through different academic disciplines. It develops the possibility of a new patient safety and health quality synthesis and discourse relevant to all concerned with patient safety and health quality in a global context.

Patient safety is an issue which in recent years has grown to prominence in a number of countries’ political and health service agendas. The World Health Organisation has launched the World Alliance for Patient Safety. Millions of patients, according to the Alliance, endure prolonged ill-health, disability and death caused by unreliable practices, services, and poor health care environments. At any given time 1.4 million people worldwide are suffering from an infection acquired in a health facility. Patient Safety, Law Policy and Practice explores the impact of legal systems on patient safety initiatives. It asks whether legal systems are being used in appropriate ways to support state and local managerial systems in developing patient safety procedures, and what alternative approaches can and should be utilized. The chapters in this collection explore the patient safety managerial structures that exist in countries where there is a developed patient safety infrastructure and culture. The legal structures of these countries are explored and related to major in-country patient safety issues such as consent to treatment protocols and guidelines, complaint handling, adverse incident reporting systems, and civil litigation systems, in order to draw comparisons and conclusions on patient safety.

Quality/Patient Safety

The chapters in this book explore the patient safety managerial structures that exist in countries where there are developed patient safety infrastructures and cultures. The legal structures of these countries are explored and related to major in-country patient safety issues in order to draw comparisons and conclusions on patient safety.

Presents a research-based perspective on patient safety, drawing together the most recent ideas on how to understand patient safety issues, along with how research findings are used to shape policy and practice.

Despite the evolution and growing awareness of patient safety, many medical professionals are not a part of this important conversation. Clinicians often believe they are too busy taking care of patients to adopt and implement patient safety initiatives and that acknowledging medical errors is an affront to their skills. Patient Safety provides clinicians with a better understanding of the prevalence, causes and solutions for medical errors; bringing best practice principles to the bedside. Written by experts from a variety of backgrounds, each chapter features an analysis of clinical cases based on the Root Cause Analysis (RCA) methodology, along with case-based discussions on various patient safety topics. The systems and processes outlined in the book are general and broadly applicable to institutions of all sizes and structures. The core ethic of medical professionals is to “do no harm”. Patient Safety is a comprehensive resource for physicians, nurses and students, as well as healthcare leaders and administrators for identifying, solving and preventing medical error.

Written for virtually every professional and leader in the health care field, as well as students who are preparing for careers in health services delivery, this book presents a framework for developing a patient safety program, shows how best to examine events that do occur, and reveals how to ensure that appropriate corrective and preventative actions are reviewed for effectiveness. The book covers a comprehensive selection of topics including The link between patient safety and legal and regulatory compliance The role of accreditation and standard-setting organizations in patient safety Failure modes and effect analysis Voluntary and regulatory oversight of medical error Evidence-based outcomes and standards of care Creation and preservation of reports, data, and device evidence in medical error situations Claims management when dealing with patient safety events Full disclosure Patient safety in human research Managing confidentiality in the face of litigation Managing patient safety compliance through accountability-based credentialing for health care professionals Planning for the future