Achieving high quality patient safety is our priority - Dr Srofenyoh

Dr Emmanuel Srofenyoh, the Medical Director of the Greater Accra Regional Hospital, has assured stakeholders that the facility was keen on achieving high quality patient safety in its service delivery to clients.

To ensure this, some thematic areas relevant under the subject of patient safety such as surgical and medication safety, healthcare acquired infections and healthcare waste management, were being prioritised by the hospital, to help minimise errors and injuries that usually occurred during service delivery, Dr Srofenyoh said.

According to him, patient’s safety had become a key component towards the attainment of Universal Health Coverage, hence, the need to give it the needed attention.

The Medical Director was speaking at an event organized by the hospital to commemorate the 2020 World Patient Safety Day, which was adopted by the 72nd World Health Assembly in May 2019, to be marked annually on 17 September, to increase public awareness and engagement, enhance global understanding, and work towards global solidarity and action by the Member States to promote patient’s safety.

He said the event was to create an opportunity for stakeholder engagement on the various safety systems put in place by the Hospital, and further draw the attention of the public to what the facility had been doing to achieve effective quality service delivery.

Dr Srofenyoh said currently, the various departments under the hospital, have developed their own protocols to prevent institutional errors, which according to the World Health Organisation, affected millions of people globally, with four out of every 10 patients being harmed while receiving care in health facilities, accounting for about 2.6 million deaths.

He said while healthcare had advanced, it had also become extra complex, with greater use of technologies, medicines and treatments, however, emphasis was being placed on the system of care delivery that prevented errors, learning from the mistakes, and building on a culture of safety that involved the collaboration of health care professionals, Organisations and patients.

Dr Srofenyoh indicated that the various protocols adopted by the facility’s departments, such as the appropriate storage and dispensing of medication, enhanced patient counselling, and effective communication, quality leadership, improved hand hygiene and sanitation practices, had resulted in a reduction in facility-acquired infections especially, relating to neonatal sepsis (cord infections), and surgical wound infections respectively, among others.

He explained, that patient’s safety had become a key component in healthcare delivery globally and essential for achieving the Universal Health Coverage, and called on all stakeholders to join hands in speaking up for patient’s safety, saying, “No one should be harmed while seeking for healthcare.”

Ms Mavis Aggrey, the Head of Infection Prevention Control at the Hospital, made reference to the Nurses Oath, which placed a charge on all practitioners to preserve lives, and said microbial organism infection sources could be from laboratories, incubators, washrooms, unsterilized surgical tools, due to non-adherence to strict Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) protocols and non-application of due diligence measures.

The hospital, she said, had been organizing regular in-house training for its staff including Housemen, saying, the COVID-19 pandemic, had brought back lots of good practices including hand hygiene, leading to a significant drop in records of respiratory infections and common colds in its Out-Patient Department.

Ms Aggrey said there was also a designated Isolation facility for high-risk patients to prevent cross-infection, constant and quality water supply, regular disinfection of the entire facility, clean washrooms and a designated facility for proper waste disposal.

Mr Joseph Agyei Tsiase, the Head of Pharmacy said the hospital had in place an effective system for the procurement for safe, quality, and cost effective medicines, proper storage to prevent deterioration, a drug and therapeutic Committee to ensure rational use of medication, and ensure the documentation of adverse drug resistance.

He outlined a chain of processes that were followed by the pharmacy department during drug dispensing, which included effective communication with patients and healthcare practitioners on the health history, avoidance of adverse drug effects, the achievement of the desired outcome of recovery.

He, however, said the hospital needed more Pharmacists, to support in its line of due diligence in dispensing drugs to reduce the waiting time for patients.

Mr Reuben Ngissah, the Head of Surgery, said his Department had developed a system known as the “Time Out” process, to trigger or remind Surgeons to cross-check all they needed for each caesarean session to avoid mistakes.

The department was also ensuring regular in-house training for all officers and had introduced a wound dressing labels among other things which had yielded a record drop in infections over the past two years.

He commended the staff for their hard work and commitment towards achieving patient safety and quality healthcare delivery at the hospital.