Patient safety: the doctor's perspective

Medical errors can be defined as the failure of a planned action to be completed as intended or the use of a wrong plan to achieve an aim. Beyond their economic cost and their cost in human lives, errors cause loss of trust in the healthcare system by patients and diminished satisfaction by both patients and health professionals. There are many evidence-based safety-oriented behaviours and interventions that are easily implemented, such as ultrasound-guided central venous catheter insertion, prevention of catheter-related bloodstream infection and more. In vascular access, the development of research in patient safety has raised a variety of issues requiring study in order to provide the optimal patient safety approach. Patients are major contributors to their own safety, and as such, physicians should develop a new approach to involve them in the cycle of decision making through every step of their treatment. There are many opportunities along this path for the patient to be engaged in safety behaviours and for the access team to ensure such behaviours by employing simple strategies. The advent of the access centre, based on multidisciplinary teamwork, has enhanced the potential to improve patient safety by prevention of errors in planning and performing access surgery, avoiding delay in treatment of access malfunction and improving communication between the team members. However, a significant effort in research is still needed in order to implement intervention by evidence-based data focused on patient safety.