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Table 6 Items of patient safety culture checked during the safety walks

From: Effects of auditing patient safety in hospital care: design of a mixed-method evaluation

Topic [33],[34]

Some of the 65 items

Medication safety

Double check before administration of the drug (the right drugs and right doses to the right patient at the right time)

Keep medication inaccessible to unauthorized persons

Infection prevention

Wash hands before and after treatment of the patient

Not wearing hand or wrist jewellery

Environment

Reduce risks of patients falling

Make leaflets easily accessible to patients

Test whether alarm systems work

Protocols and procedures of care

Ensure that only up-to-date instructions for the protocols and procedures of care are available

Ensure that protocols and procedures are accessible

Information security

Keep medical and nursing patient record inaccessible to unauthorized persons

Keep conversations between healthcare providers confidential

Sterile medical aids

Keep packaging of sterile materials closed

Sterile materials for which the expiration date has passed must always be removed

Medical devices

Monitor maintenance periodically

Provide training before use

Patient identification

Ensure that patients wear an identification bracelet

Ensure that demonstrable checking takes place before blood products are given

Food safety

Check that the nutrition assistant ensures fluid and/or nutritional balance is complete

Ascertain the temperature of the hot meal before serving

Reserved procedures

Determine that nurses have been trained and examined for risky medical procedures

Overall safety

The department must be clean and tidy

 

Clean desk policy must be maintained in the reception room