Patient Safety Is More Than Avoiding Pressure Ulcers

Patient safety goes beyond not falling down. Patient safety is more than avoiding pressure ulcers and adhering to proper hand hygiene protocols. As nurses, we will go beyond changing wound dressings, taking vital signs, giving medications and answering call lights. As nurses we must be able to communicate. Patient safety has become a hot topic in the health care field. Due to changes in health insurance, facilities have had to make policy changes. Patients can no longer be billed for a secondary ailment that takes place in the hospital. Pressure ulcers, falls, and infections are examples of treatments that can have costly results – all of which the health care facility must swallow if the patient didn’t arrive with them. Communication has improved along with these policy changes. Electronic health records are a means of reaching a lot of people in minimal time. Bedside shift reporting gives nurses and patients an opportunity to discuss and alter the care plan. Nurse-patient communication is now more important than ever. Our society has made many advancements with communication. The use of cell phones has given us the ability to talk to anyone, anywhere, anytime. Computer technology has also made communication easier. Electronic Health Reporting, or EHRs, has contributed to patient safety by decreasing communication errors. Electronic Health Reports allow a consistent message to be delivered to every team member involved in the patient’s care plan. TheShow MoreRelatedEssay about Executive Summary1131 Words   |  5 PagesMary Job Grand Canyon University NRS 451 V Dinwiddie Sandra April, 22, 2012 Pressure ulcer prevention (PUP) in surgical patients has become a major interest in acute care hospitals with the increased focus on patient safety and quality of care. A pressure ulcer is any area of skin or underlying tissue that has been damaged by unrelieved pressure or pressure in combination with friction and shear. 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