Abstract
Is Patient Safety a 'Right or a Privilege'? The intention
while treating patients is always to “do no harm” and
yet, it does not always turn out that way. Healthcare
interventions are meant to benefit people and
promote wellness; unfortunately many times they
present a risk of harm. Patients still suffer from
wrong treatment or medications, preventable falls in
hospitals, hospital acquired infections and many
other events that are harmful. An international
report published in 2018, reported that 1/10 of all
patients suffer preventable adverse events, two
decades after The Institute of Medicine found that
98,000 people die in hospitals in the US each year
because of medical errors that could have been
1,2
prevented.
Patient Safety has now emerged as a fundamental
3
concept in healthcare. It is defined by the Institute
of Medicine as “the prevention of harm to patients”.
A growing emphasis is being put on the system of
healthcare delivery that 1) prevents errors, 2) learns
from the errors that occur, and 3) is built around a
culture of safety that supports and enables and
involves healthcare professionals, organizations and
3,4
patients.
The history of patient safety goes back more than a
century. In 1854, Florence Nightingale, a nurse and
statistician, used evidence-based quality
improvement to reduce preventable harm in the
Crimean War. A century later in 1964, Schimmel in
his paper “The hazards of hospitalization” reported
that 20% of the patients admitted to the medical
wards experienced one or more untoward episode
5
and 10% had a prolonged or unresolved episode.
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality,
known as AHRQ, was formed in 1989, to produce
evidence to make health care safer, higher quality,
more accessible, equitable, and affordable, and to
6
ensure that the evidence is understood and used.
Saima Aslam, Paul Barach, Zakiuddin Ahmed. (2019) Patient Safety a 'Right or Privilege, Journal of Islamic International Medical College, Volume-14, Issue-3.
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