Patient Safety: It’s Everyone’s Responsibility

At Sharp HealthCare, it’s our mission to not only improve the health of those we serve, but to also protect our patients in every aspect of care.

Assuring patient safety requires everyone at Sharp to make safety a priority. While our physicians, caregivers, employees and volunteers dedicate themselves to daily providing the best and safest care, it’s also essential for patients to become active, informed members of their health care team.

The following patient guides were developed by the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Committee in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to prevent health care-associated infections in acute-care hospitals.

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To help patients and visitors proactively manage their health care, Sharp offers the following safety tips and measures.         

Safety Tips and Measures

Medication Safety
Medication errors are the most common medical errors and harm more than 1.5 million people every year, according to the National Academies of Science Institute of Medicine. Medication errors can occur with prescription drugs, over-the-counter products, vitamins, minerals or herbal supplements, and mistakes are possible at every stage, from prescription and administration of a drug to monitoring of the patient's response. While it’s important to note that very few errors lead to injury, let alone death, the number of preventable injuries that does occur is sobering.

Learn what you can do to protect yourself and your loved ones from medication errors:

Ask questions: If you have any questions or concerns about medication safety, talk to your doctor or pharmacist. Also, try writing your questions down ahead of time and bring them to your appointment to make sure you get the information you need.

Be informed: Ask questions about every new medicine. Get the answers you need from your health care team before you take your medicine.

Know what your medicine is for: Ask your doctor to write down what the medicine is for — not just “take once a day” but “take once a day for high blood pressure.”

Read the prescription: If your doctor writes your prescription by hand, make sure you can read it. If you can’t read your doctor’s handwriting, your pharmacist might not be able to either. If your doctor submits your prescription to the pharmacy electronically, ask for a copy of the prescription.

Patients' Rights
Learn your rights and responsibilities as a Sharp HealthCare patient.

Patient Safety: A High Priority at Sharp
Patient safety is a high priority at Sharp HealthCare, and fully aligns with our vision to be the best place for our patients to receive care. To achieve this vision we have a strategic plan for patient safety that is comprised of four primary elements that define our priorities:

  • Create a culture of safety
  • Design for safety  
  • Use teamwork and communication to enhance safety
  • Use technology to improve patient safety

Speak UP Initiative
At Sharp HealthCare it is our belief that patients and their loved ones are important members of the health care team. We encourage our patients to get involved in their care by following the important safety guidelines set by The Joint Commission and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Your Role in Preventing the Spread of Illness
Each year, 2 million people become ill as a result of a hospital-acquired infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). You and your loved one can help protect themselves and others by using these simple tips while in the hospital.

      Cough Etiquette

  • To prevent the spread of germs, cough or sneeze into a tissue or the upper arm and then wash hands.
  • All visitors who have a cough should use a tissue or wear a mask to cover the mouth when entering any Sharp HealthCare facility. Sharp visitors can find tissue, masks and alcohol gel at the main desk located in each lobby.
  • Friends and family who are ill should be advised not to come to the hospital to visit patients.

     Hand Hygiene

  • Clean hands with alcohol hand gel or soap and water. This the best way to prevent the spread of germs.
  • Patients are encouraged to ask if health care providers have freshly washed hands.
Last Updated: December 8, 2009