The World Health Organization (2021) developed a patient safety action plan to eliminate harm in healthcare settings, emphasizing the essence of infection prevention and control practices. Every healthcare setting should adhere to strict infection prevention and control measures and develop policies customized to the institution’s needs. Infection control measures include appropriate use of personal protective equipment for the care providers, disinfection of surfaces, environmental cleaning, and adherence to isolation precautions.
The other best-practice solution to improve patient safety and reduce costs is surveillance and monitoring patient safety issues. According to Duarte et al. (2020), healthcare institutions can reduce patient safety issues by creating robust surveillance systems to monitor patient safety issues, including tracking antimicrobial resistance patterns and identifying outbreaks, which allows for early detection and prompt response to prevent further infection transmission. Additionally, educating care providers on infection control practices, guidelines, and protocols is vital in improving patient safety and reducing costs.
Nurses significantly help in coordinating care to improve patient safety and reduce costs. As among the care team leaders, nurses can mobilize other healthcare providers in initiatives aimed at improving patient safety and reducing care costs (Vaismoradi et al., 2020). For example, nurses can lead in infection prevention and control staff education and programs, ensuring all care providers are aware of the practices, policies, and protocols, thus improving patient safety and reducing costs.
Nurses also coordinate care by ensuring seamless communication among the care team, preventing gaps in care that would lead to patient safety issues such as medication errors, thus promoting patient safety. For instance, nurses can communicate with other care team members on the infection prevention and control protocols currently used to enhance patient safety and reduce costs related to HAIs.
There are various stakeholders with whom nurses would need to coordinate in driving safety enhancements to prevent HAIs. Institution leaders and administrators are among the relevant stakeholders whom nurses need to involve in driving quality initiatives to enhance safety. The leaders allocate resources for the various initiatives and programs in institutions. Therefore, coordinating them in driving safety enhancements is crucial. Additionally, getting their buy-in and support for the initiative is vital, thus promoting success.
Other stakeholders include the clinical support staff, patients, and families, as well as other members of the interdisciplinary team. Simsekler et al. (2020) note that clinical support staff, such as lab technicians, play a major role in minimizing and preventing HAIs. Therefore, they are relevant stakeholders in safety enhancements.
Patients and their families should also be involved in enhancing safety since they also participate in self-management and home care. These stakeholders can also help provide feedback on safety issues, thus improving the initiatives. The interdisciplinary team is also vital in safety enhancements since it takes part in patient care planning, treatment, and care continuity (Simsekler et al., 2020).
Hospital Associated Infections are a major patient safety risk in healthcare institutions. Patient safety issues such as HAIs compromise care quality and increase the costs to the individual patient and the system. However, as discussed above, a wide array of evidence-based and best-practice solutions exist to address the issues. Nurses can also coordinate care to improve patient safety and reduce costs. Identifying relevant stakeholders in safety enhancement initiatives is crucial to improve their success.
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