NNMC Promotes Patient Safety Week

By Sarah Fortney, National Naval Medical Center Public Affairs

BETHESDA, Md. (NNS) -- The National Naval Medical Center (NNMC) will commemorate Patient Safety Week March 7 through March 11, emphasizing to patients and staff the importance of patient safety.

Patient Safety Week, founded in 2002 by the National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF), aims to raise awareness amongst health care organizations across the globe. With the theme "Be Involved, Be Invested, Be Informed, working together, we can make health care safe," NNMC providers will reiterate to their patients the importance of understanding their condition and medications to help prevent readmissions, said Rhoda Kroecker, a patient safety specialist at NNMC.

Throughout the week, there will be posters on display and a table presentation circulating around the clinical areas of the hospital with hand-outs and brochures for patients.

"National Patient Safety Week is a great opportunity to celebrate our progress on patient safety efforts and to reinvigorate our partnership between providers, staff and patients to achieve best health outcomes. Taking the time to have a dialogue with our patients will enable us to better understand their concerns and let them know we are totally committed to their needs," said Chisun Chun, deputy commander for Healthcare Operations and Strategic Planning.

"What we're really working for is to try to help patients understand their medications and what their medications are for so that they can ask questions," said Kroecker.

Patient safety goes hand-in-hand with infection control and hand hygiene, she said. It also involves communication between staff and patients – while it's important to make sure providers are up-to-date in their health field to provide the latest information to patients, patients need to be invested in their health care and what is required to make them healthy, she said.

"It's the communication between health care providers and patients which allows the patient to go home and manage their health with outpatient care," said Kroecker.

Patient safety is everyone's job – from the nurses and doctors to the food service staff, who, for example, must make sure a patient with diabetes isn't served a piece of pie, she said.

"It really encompasses the whole hospital. All staff members need to be alert to possible patient safety issues," she said. "Throughout the year, [patient safety] is always a priority. Patient Safety Week is a way to remind all staff of that responsibility."

At NNMC, a patient safety advisor program allows trained staff working within each service to promote patient safety principles, said NNMC's Patient Safety Manager Suzie Farley. The hospital also works daily to comply with the Joint Commission standards to maintain accreditation.

Additionally, a patient safety reporting system is in place, providing staff an outlet for system improvements; for inpatients, the hospital follows John's Hopkins Evidenced Based Fall Risk Reduction program, said Farley.

"NNMC embraces implementing evidence-based practices, benchmarking with other organizations and emphasizing quality patient care," said Farley.

Overall, the key to a culture of patient safety is leadership involvement and staff awareness of process and system improvements, she said.