16 percent of hospitals do not use safe equipment in the drug preparation procedure. Only 11 percent facilities use only safe injection needles, and only one in four uses closed systems for blood collection each time. These are the conclusions of the report Safe Hospital is a Safe Patient, developed by the Coalition for Hospital Safety.
A report on hospital safety was created
Published Jan. 13, 2023 09:07
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Health care workers are a group particularly exposed to i.a. to contact with biological material or toxic drugs, needle sticks and injuries with sharp instruments, and stress. Meanwhile, the safety of personnel is considered by the European Union as one of the priorities of the strategies of the member states in the coming years.
– Elimination of occupational safety hazards in medical facilities and hospital wards contributes to reducing the costs of testing, quarantine and employee absenteeism, which translates into providing appropriate care to patients. Changing the procedures that will affect the safety of staff has been a priority of the Coalition for Hospital Safety from the very beginning - says Paweł Witt, PhD, chairman of the Coalition's Council of Experts.
The Council has prepared a declaration document, which has already been signed by nearly one hundred hospitals from all over Poland. This initiative is accompanied by the "Safe hospital is a safe patient" certification program. Its first edition has just come to an end. 63 medical facilities from all over Poland took part in the project of verifying the certification criteria. 52 certificates were awarded. This means that the process was positively passed by 82 percent. hospitals. Importantly, none of them scored the maximum number of points, and the average score is 80 points out of a possible 121.
The report, which was created on the basis of data collected in the certification process, shows that over 75 percent of reported medical facilities do not have an electronic system for recording employee injuries with sharp tools or exposure to biological material. Nearly one-third of the facilities indicated that safe equipment constituted a maximum of 15% of their equipment. Safe cannulas, minimizing the risk of puncture, are used by less than half, only 43 percent. hospital units. It also turns out that more than half of the hospitals do not train employees in the field of exposure to cytotoxic drugs.
- In Polish hospitals, nearly 70 percent. health professionals have injured themselves up to five times during their tenure, of which 40 percent did not report such an event to their superiors - adds Dr. Paweł Witt.
The second edition of the certification program is to be announced this year.
