Factors associated with the patient safety climate

Hospitals are required to provide treatment to patients all around the world. These services vary depending on the medical center’s level, management style, and technique used in such clinics. These hospitals are rated by The Leapfrog Group, an independent nonprofit organization that conducts research on several areas within the facility to determine the level of care provided (Hammer et al., 2011). The organization’s numerous departments and services include inpatient care management such as safe practices, ICU physician staffing, and antibiotic stewardships, pharmaceutical safety such as computerized physician entry, Bar Code Medication, Administration, and Medication Reconciliation. It also includes maternity care such as Early Elective Deliveries, Cesareans Sections, Episiotomy, Processes of Care, and High-Risk Deliveries as well as the general leadership. The ratings are in four bar rates of which, for example, in-patient Care Management and medication the bars are full, while the maternity care, the other sectors are full except cesarean sections that only poses two of them. These ratings are not much different as the best content for three to four bars in the rating scale of every sector. My Hospital, University of Chicago Medical Center was rated the third under Top Teaching institutions in Illinois. The top hospitals are perceived to have better operational systems put in place to offer high-quality services and reduce errors that might result in more injuries or deaths.

The report received from the Leapfrog Group is more use and comprehensible to the general public, due to the following issues; the report is useful in educating both the consumers and purchaser about the quality and safety of services that are offered by respective clinics. As a result, they are capable of making the best choices on which hospital to seek services from in advance. It will come to the consumer’s attention after realizing that his/her hospital has failed to voluntarily submit their quality and safety reports to the Leapfrog Group for the recommendation (Bianca, Lúcia de Assis, Helena, & Barichello, 2015). This is a proof that the institution is holding critical information from them. Studies that proactively informed patients are better than their counterparts in terms of choosing a doctor or a hospital, comparing cost and deciding on the best tests and treatments are best for them is a major aspect that has also been identified. With this information, the rate of deaths caused by medical errors tends to reduce since many clinics will have a benchmark that will guide on the measures required so as to ensure safety to patients and offer quality services. At the same time, the patients will have the opportunity to avoid the hospitals that have been ranked as poor service providers.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the rating of the hospitals mainly depends on the performance of the management that oversee the quality and practices of every sector in the medical center. Proper safety measures and quality services attract a large number of consumers and purchasers, who also forms the basis of the rating process. It is advisable to all the customers to be proactive. It is upon the hospital management body to voluntarily provide all the data that is needed by the Leapfrog Group to facilitate proper ratings and gather information that is helpful to the consumers.

References

Bianca Luiz, R., Lúcia de Assis Simões, A., Helena Barbosa, M., & Barichello, E. (2015). Factors associated with the patient safety climate at a teaching hospital. Revista Latino-Americana De Enfermagem (RLAE), 23(5), 880-887. doi:10.1590/0104-1169.0059.2627

Hammer, A., Ernstmann, N., Ommen, O., Wirtz, M., Manser, T., Pfeiffer, Y., & Pfaff, H. (2011). Psychometric properties of the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture for hospital management (HSOPS_M). BMC Health Services Research, 11(1), 165-174. doi:10.1186/1472-6963-11-165

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