Making Surgical Care Safer: A Survey on the Implementation of the Checklist by Belgian Surgeons

Dentists' practices and patient safety: A cross-sectional study

PURPOSE

To assess the frequency of dentist-reported practices to ensure patient safety in the dental office and the impact of training and work environment on this frequency using the framework of the International Patient Safety Goals (IPSGs).

METHODS

Dentists attending major conferences in Egypt and Saudi Arabia were recruited in a cross-sectional study in 2018. They completed a questionnaire assessing professional background and the frequency of practices for the IPSGs. The relationship between explanatory variables: training (postgraduate degrees and continuing education) and work environment (years in profession, working in public sector and performing surgical procedures) and the outcome variable: frequency of practices for 4 IPSGs was assessed using multivariate general linear model, and univariate general linear model was used to assess their relationship to the overall score of safety practices calculated for all goals.

RESULTS

The response rate was 81.1%. Practices related to reducing harm in the office environment were significantly less frequent than practices ensuring medication safety, ensuring safe surgery and controlling infection. The overall frequency of safety practices was significantly higher amongst senior than junior dentists. There were significant differences in safety practices frequency based on postgraduate degrees and receiving safety training. Dentists performing surgical procedures reported less frequent safety practices.

CONCLUSION

Practices to reduce harm because of the dental office environment were less frequent than other safety practices. Senior dentists, dentists who had postgraduate degrees and who received safety training reported more safety practices whilst those performing surgical procedures reported fewer safety practices.

Australian public hospital inpatient satisfaction related to early patient involvement and shared decision-making in discharge planning

Background

Surveys of hospital inpatient satisfaction may help develop actionable plans for quality improvement, and patients have preferred to give feedback during admission at the point of service compared to after discharge. However, patient satisfaction measurement has often been done by questionnaires post‐discharge, and without focussing on an Australian general internal medicine setting.

Aims

To understand patients' perceptions of their admission experiences in an Australian public teaching hospital's general internal medicine unit, and to understand the opportunities for quality improvement.

Methods

A prospective study of 50 inpatients of a general internal medicine unit at an Australian public teaching hospital was carried out using a patient satisfaction questionnaire given to patients on the day of discharge.

Results

Patients perceived deficits in early communication about discharge destination planning, and provision of written discharge instructions. Responses highlighted the importance of checking with patients to elicit further information that was not previously captured during initial history‐taking, patient‐centred communication to enable informed consent and decision making, use of language readily understandable to laypersons, and checking for patients' understanding of messages as communicated by the treating clinician.

Conclusions

In an Australian general internal medicine service, early involvement and shared decision‐making in discharge planning are valued by patients. Incorporating checking of patients' understanding of diagnoses, management, discharge instructions, and follow‐up plans into ward round routines may benefit patient satisfaction. This study stimulates further research into the use of a proforma to capture and check patients' understanding of discharge diagnoses and plans.