Educating Caregivers for National Patient Safety Awareness Week

This week, we’re celebrating Patient Safety Week! We’ve all had that one (or more) sub-optimal experience at the doctor’s office. Whether it’s a general doctor, a surgeon, or your dentist trying to ask you about your week while probing around in your mouth, there’s no question that some practices are clearly more safe and enjoyable than others. The easiest way to greatly improve the medical experience for patients is to make sure that professionals have access to and participate in an abundance of patient safety training. Here we’ll highlight popular patient safety topics and related OpenSesame courses.

Safe Practices for Avoiding Falls

Patients falls are one of the most common hospital injuries that can be easily avoided. According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, accidental falls contribute to patient complications in 2% of hospital stays. This doesn’t seem significant, but falls can severely injure or have fatal impact to a few dozen patients every year in the United States. Since Medicare and Medicaid do not reimburse hospitals for costs associated with injuries from falls, it’s essential that medical professionals learn the best methods to prevent this from happening. OpenSesame offers a variety of helpful courses including how to properly lift patients from bed to properly lifting and handling patients. These courses will help medical professionals provide safe care for their patients, while avoiding potential complications.

Medication Adminstration Practice

Another potentially dangerous patient safety topic is medication administration errors. Several key factors may contribute to medication errors, which include illegible orders, errors of omission, and improper dosage or medication selection. Doctors must take responsibility when administering medication to patients to ensure their safety and proper dosages. Several courses on OpenSesame adhere to the Joint Commission National Patient Safety Goals, including Preventing Medication Errors and The Medical Errors Ebook. These courses will help medical professionals recognize potential sources of errors so they can reduce the number and impact of preventable adverse events in practice.

Safe Medical Practices Training

Though falls and medical errors are just a few of many patient safety topics, we’re proud here at OpenSesame to support safe medical practices. Other helpful training courses include Safety Orientation Nursing, Operating Room Protocol, and Patient Evacuation to name a few.

Check out our other courses as part of patient safety week to ensure the best medical practices and the best patient experience!