Patient safety is a healthcare discipline that emphasizes on the reporting, analysis, and prevention of medical error, physician error, medication error, pharmacy error, nursing error, medical equipment failure, root cause analysis, and failure due to human factors. Negligence in patient safety often leads to adverse healthcare events.

Yashoda Group of Hospitals as well as its employees actively participates in patient safety as partners to the patients. At Yashoda, we improve patient safety through our infection control practices, prevention programmes, patient awareness programmes and other safety procedures. Yashoda practices patient safety by

• Using good hospital design principles
• Limiting shift durations for medical residents and other hospital staff
• Preventing central line-related blood stream infections
• Educating patients about using blood thinners safely
• Building rapid response systems and better teams
• Re-engineering hospital discharges thus reducing potentially preventable readmissions by assigning a staff member to work closely with patients and other staff to settle medications and schedule necessary follow-up medical appointments.
• Preventing venous thromboembolism by eliminating hospital-acquired VTE (venous thromboembolism), the most common cause of preventable hospital deaths.

Some safety tips for patients to make sure that the care is as safe as possible.

• Keep the latest list of the following with you at all times:
  1. Your immunizations, prior hospitalizations and medical problems
  2. The name and phone number of your pharmacy and physician
  3. Any allergies you have to medicine, food or anything else
• Learn about your illness and how to stay healthy.
• Ask a family member or friend to go with you to the doctor to help you ask questions or get further information.
• Cooperate with your doctor by answering the questions about your illness in order to understand and plan for your care.
• Let your physician know if you are not feeling well or if you experience any change in your condition.
• While in the hospital:
  • Wash your hands with soap and water, especially after using the restroom and before eating
  • Ask everyone who comes in contact with you, visitors or staff, to wash their hands. This will reduce your exposure to germs

Use Medications Safely

• Keep the latest list of drugs you are taking including prescriptions, herbals, vitamins, or any other medicines.
• Bring your list of prescriptions with you every time you go to the hospital or visit your doctor.
• Make sure you know the names of all your medicines and why you were prescribed to take them.
• Ask questions about any instructions or information given that are confusing or unclear.
• When a doctor suggests you a new medicine, ask him/her if the new medicine will interfere with or substitute for what you are already taking.
• If you are concerned with any safety issues, please speak with Patient Relation Executive (PRE) or manager (operations) or any member of the hospital staff. We will do our best to resolve your problem.
• Immediately contact your doctor, nurse or attender if you do not feel well after taking a medicine.