Knowra Patient safety Patient safety Patient safety is the prevention of avoidable harm to patients during healthcare delivery. It combines safer systems, clinical practices, and learning from incidents.
Swiss cheese model : A model of accidents in which harm occurs when weaknesses in multiple defensive layers align. It explains how patient harm can pass through several safeguards rather than arise from one error.
Medication safety : Practices that reduce medication-related errors and preventable harm throughout prescribing, dispensing, and use. Medication processes are a major target for preventing avoidable injury.
Adverse event : An injury or other harm resulting from medical care rather than the patient's underlying condition. This is a central outcome that patient-safety systems seek to prevent.
Blame culture : An organizational pattern that attributes failures chiefly to individual fault and responds with punishment. It discourages reporting and contrasts with learning-oriented safety culture.
Systems thinking : An approach that explains outcomes through interactions among parts of a system and its environment. It shifts safety analysis from individual blame to the conditions shaping care.
Surgical safety checklist : A structured checklist used by surgical teams to verify critical steps before, during, and after operations. It standardizes communication and checks around high-risk procedural care.
Near miss : An incident that could have caused harm but did not, by chance or timely intervention. Near misses reveal hazards before they produce injury.
Just culture : An approach that distinguishes human error, at-risk behavior, and reckless conduct when assigning accountability. It seeks accountability without treating every error as misconduct.
Human factors and ergonomics : The study of how people interact with tools, tasks, environments, and organizations. It helps design care processes around human capabilities and limitations.
Diagnostic error : A failure to establish an accurate and timely explanation of a patient's health problem or communicate it effectively. Missed or delayed diagnoses can cause substantial preventable harm.
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