Patient Safety

At. St. James Healthcare, we provide the safest patient care by adhering to the National Patient Safety Goals to reduce harmful occurrences.

We provide safe patient care by adhering to the following: 

Encourage patients’ active involvement in their own care as a patient safety strategy.

§         Communicate the means for patients and their families to report concerns about safety and encourage them to do so.

The organization identifies safety risks inherent in its patient population.

§         Identify patients being treated for emotional or behavior disorders at risk for suicide.

Improve the accuracy of patient identification.

§         Accurately identify patients prior to receiving any care, treatment or services by verifying the patient’s name, medical record number and/or birth date.

Improve the effectiveness of communication among caregivers.

§         “READ Back” all verbal or telephone orders in their entirety.

§         Do not use unapproved abbreviations anywhere in the documentation of orders, treatment plans, progress notes, test results or discharge plans.

§         Improve timeliness of reporting and timeliness of receipt by caregiver of critical test results and values.

§         Standardize the approach to “hand off” communications, including an opportunity to ask and respond to questions.

Improve the safety of using medications.

§         Limit the number of drug concentrations and prevent errors involving the interchange of look-alike/ sound-alike drugs.

§         Label all medications, medication containers or other solutions on and off the sterile field in perioperative and other procedural settings.

Reduce the risk of health care-associated infections.

§         Wash your hands with an antimicrobial soap and water or use hygienic hand rubs BEFORE and AFTER all patient contacts.

Accurately and completely reconcile medications across the continuum of care.

§         Obtain and document a complete list of the patient’s current medications.

§         Communicate the list of patient’s medications to the next provider of service when the patient is transferred to another setting, service, practitioner or level of care.

§         The complete list of medications is also provided to the patient on discharge from the facility.

Reduce the risk of patient harm resulting from falls.

§         Reduce patient falls through an effective fall reduction program.