Ethics Governance
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| Article - Abstract. To view full article click on the article title. | |
eMJA: Barraclough, Safety and quality in Australian healthcare: making progress Safety and quality in Australian healthcare: making progress The newly formed Australian Council for Safety and Quality in Health Care has ambitious plans MJA 2001; 174: 616-617 Australian healthcare is comprehensive and accessible, supported by modern technology and a well trained and motivated workforce. Neverthless, problems occur, typically as a result of a series of systems failures which lead almost inevitably to mishaps by doctors or nurses.1,2 In the 21st century, we can, and should, be doing better to identify and manage risks and systemic failures in the healthcare system. There is much that we can learn from industries such as aviation, mining and road safety, and from human-factors engineers and cognitive psychologists, about how to shift to a system that, although inevitably high risk, has high reliability (ie, lessons are learnt from problems, and changes made so that the problems do not recur).3 These industries have seriously tackled these issues and made measurable improvements in safety. Healthcare needs to recognise that safety concerns are real, that the system is prone to error and failure, and that we need to work to reduce the risk in areas that are inherently risky. . . . we need to move beyond a "bad apples" approach, with media sensationalism . . . We need to redesign and simplify many aspects of healthcare. Management of the system needs to change dramatically to allow clinicians and nurses at the frontline to influence management decisions effectively. Otherwise we will fail to engage their active support in improving safety and quality. Management has a necessary focus on improving efficiency, but this alone will not improve safety and quality. Management must also fund, support and encourage redesign of systems, monitor activity reports, feed their results back into the systems, and encourage and reward safety improvements. Full Article: http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/174_12_180601/barraclough/barraclough.html |
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2006 Ethics-Governance.com |
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