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 Editor's
Corner
Patient
safety
by
Michael E. Speer, MD
It
seems that the issue of patient safety is a topic of the day
in the lay press and medical editorials. Calls for improved hospital
system processes, such as identifying patients with bar codes
to decrease medication errors, are being debated. The public wants
to know whether the hospital in which they or their children are
cared for is as safe as can be designed. The neonatal intensive
care environment, in particular, has been found to be one of the
areas where, because of the disease acuity of the patient population,
medical errors can and do occur. No one wants an error to occur;
however, care processes in the NICU frequently involve many different
personnel from many different disciplines who must work together
in a coordinated manner with multiple handoffs taking place. Neonatologists,
nurses and hospital administrators must work together to reduce
risks to patients. One area that can be addressed is to identify
processes whereby data (such as lab and medication order entry)
is transmitted among many individuals. By decreasing the number
of handoffs between people, errors can be reduced.
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