UNAIR NEWS – The Research Center for Patient Safety (PRKP) of Universitas Airlangga (UNAIR) held a webinar series, “Visiting Researcher Programme”. In this webinar series, several sub-themes were discussed, including “Six Patient Safety Targets for Nursing Students”. Ns Annisa Rahmi Galleryzki SKep MKep, a lecturer from the Kepanjen Health Sciences College (STIKES), was featured as the speaker at the event on Tuesday, Jan 26, 2024. 

Ns Annisa emphasized the role of nurses in achieving the six patient safety targets, which is a crucial issue as patient safety incidents still occur frequently worldwide.

“There are 134 million injury incidents occur in communities of lower to middle-income countries. However, a safety incident is something that can be prevented. Therefore, we are striving to prevent these safety incidents,” she said.

One of the preventive measures for safety incidents is active participation in patient safety education. She also urged nursing students to acquire competencies equivalent to those of working nurses.

“Many incidents occur due to errors made by students. According to data, about 28 to 30 percent of students still make mistakes in administering medications,” said Ns Annisa.

Six Patient Safety Targets 

In the healthcare sector, Ns Annisa emphasized the importance of six patient safety goals that healthcare professionals, especially nurses, need to prioritize. These goals include: (1) Patient identification; (2) Improvement of effective communication; (3) Increased awareness of high-alert medications; (4) Correct patient, correct location, correct procedure, and correct surgical action; (5) Prevention of infection risks; (6) Prevention of falling injury.  

“As nurses, you play an important part in addressing these issues because we are always by the patient’s side. In the event of an incident, the nurse is the one sought after,” said Ns Annisa.

HAIs Prevention

One of the patient safety targets is the prevention of infections. Infections in patients often occur due to Health Care-Associated Infections (HAIs). HAIs occur while patients receive care in hospitals or other healthcare services. 

Therefore, prevention according to standard precautionary measures is needed. These include:
(1) handwashing,
(2) proper use of personal protective equipment (PPE),
(3) respiratory hygiene and cough etiquette,
(4) the use of safe syringes,
(5) storage and handling of medications, and
(6) cleaning and disinfecting equipment and environmental surfaces. 

“By properly washing our hands, we can break the chain of infection that may be transmitted by patients or ourselves,” she said.

Why is hand hygiene the most important? She conveyed that this is not only an effort to protect patients but also to protect health workers.

Author: Syifa Rahmadina

Editor: Feri Fenoria