Patient safety is a priority concept in modern healthcare, which was first established in the late 1990s when a summary study in the United States revealed that preventable medical errors cause thousands of deaths. According to the WHO, in high-income countries, on average, one in ten patients suffers harm during hospital care. In 2004, the WHO launched the Global Patient Safety Programme, which culminated in declaring 17 September as World Patient Safety Day in 2019 and adopting a specific action plan in 2021.
What does patient safety mean? For several decades now, patient safety has not only been understood as clinical standards and protocols to ensure, for example, transfusion of the correct blood type, operating on the correct side of the body, or preventing a patient from falling out of a hospital bed. While avoiding medical errors is certainly primary in ensuring quality care, it is equally important to involve the patient and their family members as equal partners in the healthcare relationship. According to the WHO, patient empowerment and involvement are the most effective tools for ensuring patient safety. Research confirms this — the quality of communication between healthcare professionals and patients affects the quality of clinical decisions. Moreover, a good and trusting relationship between healthcare professionals and patients improves the overall well-being of both parties.
Meaningful involvement of patients and their family members requires an understanding of the broader meaning of patient autonomy (including patients’ rights and responsibilities), as well as good collaboration and communication skills. These skills can be learned and taught. It is also important to abandon the lingering perception that these are merely “soft skills” that are not essential for patient care. Communication skills are a clinical competence, as emphasized by Silverman, Kurtz, and Draper (2013) in their book on communication with patients.
A regulation of the Minister of Health concerning the quality of healthcare services and patient safety sets out the concept of person-centeredness. Person-centeredness means providing healthcare services in a way that treats the patient as an equal partner and takes their will, needs, and values into account. The regulation also requires healthcare institutions to regularly train their staff to ensure quality care and patient safety. Healthcare providers must also establish good practices for communication with patients and their family members.
If someone now objects that limited time during visits prevents communication with patients, the truth is that trusting and warm communication can actually save time by improving mutual understanding and preventing misunderstandings. In a Swiss study involving 335 patients, participants were allowed to speak freely during their first consultation for as long as they wished. It turned out that, on average, they spoke spontaneously for 92 seconds, and 78% of the patients finished talking about their concerns within two minutes.
In addition to possible time savings, investing in good and trusting relationships with patients can also reduce costs for healthcare providers. According to the WHO, up to 15% of hospital expenditures in high-income countries are related to costs resulting from shortcomings in patient safety (e.g. time and money spent on handling patient complaints and compensation claims).
In conclusion, patient safety starts with communication: every question heard, every concern understood, and every shared decision creates higher quality care and increases the well-being of both the patient and the healthcare professional.
About the author: Kristi Paron is an Adviser to the Chancellor of Justice, and her research focuses on patient autonomy.