June is National Safety Month, offering an opportunity for discussing ideas on keeping hospitals safe for patients and nurses. After all, any medical establishment needs to focus on providing top-shelf patient care. Achieving this goal becomes more difficult whenever hazardous conditions hamper hospital operations.
Here are a few ideas for nursing leaders on fostering a safe environment in their hospital or medical office. Use this information to ensure your nurses understand these concepts, reducing any risks to patients as well as themselves. Adopting a proactive strategy that highlights safety as a critical goal helps you and your team achieve it!
Leverage Any Lessons Learned During the COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic required hospitals to take a proactive approach concerning the safety of patients and employees. While some mistakes were made, healthcare organizations gained valuable experience, helping develop a collection of best practices around safety. Use these lessons learned to better prepare for future pandemics or even a severe flu outbreak. Medical organizations obviously need to take a lead role in reducing the spread of viruses and other contagions.
Create a Response Team to Handle Safety-Related Incidents
Having a dedicated response team for safety incidents at any hospital or medical office makes perfect sense. Include leaders and managers from all relevant departments to share ideas and facilitate communication. Ensure the team has the authority to quickly make critical safety-related decisions during any incident.
Network With Other Hospitals to Share Ideas of Safety
Take advantage of the community of hospitals and other medical organizations to share ideas on improving safety. This approach provides another great resource for developing an evolving set of best practices on the topic. Assign someone from the response team mentioned above the task of contacting and networking with other hospitals.
Be Open to Safety Advice From Nurses and Nursing Assistants
Your nursing staff serves as another great resource for insights on improving safety at your hospital. So take into account any suggestions they might offer. After all, an open policy on this topic typically works best. Additionally, your nurses’ experience at patients’ bedsides and elsewhere in the hospital remains highly valuable.
Always Follow Recommended Safety Guidelines
When creating safety guidelines at your hospital, following the recommendations of agencies like OSHA and the CDC remains wise. Use their advice and insights to inform this effort. Patient and employee well-being greatly improves as a result.
If you need an influx of nursing talent, connect with the experts at CHN Health Care Group. As one of the top medical staffing agencies in the Boston, we provide exceptional candidates to improve your patient care. Schedule a meeting with us to discuss your current hiring plans.