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Developing patient safety standards for health-care quality promotion in neonatal intensive care units: A
Zahra Shahkolahi1, Alireza Irajpour1, Soheila Jafari-Mianaei1
1Nursing and Midwifery Care Research Center, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
Insights
This study developed patient safety standards for Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) in Iran to prevent infant injuries. Implementing these standards will enhance healthcare quality and patient safety in NICUs.
Area of Science:
- Healthcare quality improvement
- Patient safety research
- Neonatal care standards
Background:
- Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) present significant risks to infant safety due to various structural and process threats.
- Developing evidence-based standards is crucial for preventing patient injuries and guiding national healthcare protocols.
- This study addresses the need for specific patient safety standards tailored to Iranian NICUs.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop comprehensive patient safety standards for Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) within Iran.
- To establish a foundation for national guidelines and protocols aimed at enhancing infant safety in critical care settings.
Main Methods:
- A mixed-methods approach utilizing the Exploration, Preparation, Implementation, and Sustainment (EPIS) framework.
- Standards development based on the World Health Organization model during the Exploration phase.
- Validity and applicability assessment of the developed standards in the Preparation and Implementation phases, respectively.
Main Results:
- The study successfully developed a set of patient safety standards specifically designed for Iranian NICUs.
- The developed standards are validated for accuracy and applicability in real-world clinical settings.
Conclusions:
- The newly developed patient safety standards will significantly contribute to high-quality, equitable, and effective healthcare delivery in Iranian NICUs.
- Implementation of these standards is expected to markedly improve patient safety and the overall quality of medical care for hospitalized infants.
Background:
Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is one of the accident-prone settings in the health-care system. There is a series of structural and process threats to the safety of infants hospitalized in this unit, which can be prevented by taking the right actions. For this purpose, developing standards based on current knowledge, available resources, and the context that provides care can determine patient injury prevention requirements. Likewise, it can be a source for national development and application of related guidelines and protocols. This study aims to develop patient safety standards in the NICUs of Iran.
Materials And Methods:
This mixed-methods study will apply the exploration, preparation, implementation, and sustainment framework to develop patient safety standards. In each phase of this framework, a set of activities take place. Exploration is based on the world health organization model to develop standards. Determining the validity and applicability of standards will be done in Phase 2 (Preparation) and Phase 3 (Implementation), respectively. Since the long-term effects are not desired, the fourth phase (Sustainment) will not be considered.
Discussion:
Patient safety standards from this study will contribute to efficient and effective, equitable, and high-quality health-care delivery. The application of them will further promote patient safety and the quality of medical care in Iranian NICUs.
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