Patient Safety Culture: Importance for Saudi Healthcare, Benefits

This discussion post delves into the critical importance of fostering a robust patient safety culture within Saudi Arabian healthcare organizations. It highlights the multifaceted benefits for all stakeholders, including improved healthcare quality, enhanced working conditions for medical employees, and better patient outcomes. The post emphasizes the role of organizational commitment, a fault-free environment, and acknowledging the risky nature of healthcare activities. It provides a case study of Medical-City in Riyadh, KSA, discussing its strengths and areas needing improvement, particularly in preventing hazardous events like Hospital-Acquired Pressure Injuries (HAPI). The analysis underscores the need for effective communication, swift responses to errors, and appropriate staffing to enhance patient safety and reduce healthcare costs. The post references relevant research to support its arguments.

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Patient safety culture
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Patient safety culture 2
Patient Safety Culture: Improving Health Care Quality.
Creating a safety culture in health care organizations is a fundamental concept.
Progressively health care institutions are becoming more cognizant of the benefits associated
with transformation of organizational culture so as to ensure patient safety, for example, those
patients who are more prone to suffer from Hospital-acquired pressure (HAPI) (Sammer,
Lykens, Singh, Mains, & Lackan, 2017).Health care organizations in Saudi Arabia are
consistently carrying out multifaceted and risky work. This necessitates the need for these
organizations to uphold a commitment to safety culture at all phases. A good safety culture
primarily encompasses; organizational obligation of resources to tackle safety concerns,
establishing a fault- free atmosphere to facilitate recording of faults or near misses without
worrying on castigations and recognizing the risky nature of the organization’s activities.
Saudi Arabian health care organizations have realized a tremendous improvement in the
overall health care quality in the recent past as a result of establishing and observing a culture of
safety. Advancing in safety culture is an essential element in reducing or eliminating errors in
health care organizations. Compliance with legislation is observed ensuring the smooth operation
of these organizations (Alswat, et al., 2017).
The health care providers also gain from observing a safety culture in health care
organizations. Improved working conditions are achieved through this process due to improved
communication channels. The workers confidence is improved, they become more productive at
their work (Pronovost & Sexton, 2016). The health care employees are motivated when a healthy
safety culture is established within the health care organizations.

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Patients seeking treatment in Saudi Arabian health care organizations have benefitted
significantly from a safety culture in the respective institutions. The strong safety culture have
greatest impact on reducing accidents of any process. They are benefiting from the general
improved health care quality (Hellings, Schrooten, Klazinga, & Vleugels, 2017). There have
been great improvement in prevention of the HAPI as health care practitioners have become
more prudent with their duties.
Safety culture of Medical-City in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). This health care
facility is a tertiary care teaching facility. The facility displays a strong team work within its
units. The organization have also developed culture of Organizational Learning-Continuous
improvement. Areas relating to non-corrective response to mistakes and recruitment still require
significant efforts of improvement (Alswat, et al., 2017). Administrative backing, institutional-
educational and response have been adopted by the Medical City as key components of its
patient safety culture.
My personal take is that Medical-City is yet to establish patient safety culture that is
effective in preventing hazardous events like occurrence of HAPI condition to in-patient
hospitals. It is essential for the health care personnel to understand and acquaint themselves with
the best ways of preventing a HAPI from advancing into austere injury, this will help to
convalesce patient outcomes and lower treatment related expenses. Most recent survey reveals
that pressure related injuries are most common in hospitals and long -term facilities, the high
prevalence of HAPI equates to substantial time and resources spent on care and treatment.
Improvement in effective communication, speed to respond to mistakes and ensuring appropriate

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staffing are some of the key factors that the Medical-City need to incorporate to its patient safety
culture to make it more effective.
References
Alswat, K., Abdala, R. M., Titi, M. A., Bakash, M., Mehmood, F., Zubairi, Z., . . . El-Jardali, J.
(2017). ). Improving patients’ safety culture in Saudi Arabia (2012-2015): Trending,
improvement, and benchmarking. BMC Health Services Research, 17, 516.
Hellings, J., Schrooten, W., Klazinga, N. S., & Vleugels, A. (2017). Improving patient safety
culture. International journal of health care quality assurance, 97(2), 355-456.
Pronovost, P., & Sexton, B. (2016). Assessing safety culture. guidelines and recommendations,
89(3), 56-67.
Sammer, C. E., Lykens, K., Singh, K. P., Mains, D. A., & Lackan, N. A. (2017). What is patient
safety culture? A review of the literature. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 72(2), 18-23.