10 Patient Safety Commandments

How our patients contribute to their safety in Health First healthcare environments

1. Speak up:  If at any time you have concerns about your safety or the safety of those around you, please tell us. Don’t hesitate to ask questions about your care.
2. Accurate health status:  Provide us with up-to-date information of your past and present health history because this helps us take better care of you.
3. Updated medication list:  We must know your current medications - name, dose, and route when possible. When you can, bring your medication bottles or packages with you to the hospital, including any herbals or supplements, for verification. When you leave the hospital, you should receive a list of medications to be continued at home after discharge. If you don’t receive this list, please tell your nurse and don’t leave until that list has been given to you. 
4. Minimizing falls:  Our clinical staff assesses every patient for risk of falling while in the hospital. You may be identified as a fall risk and the Nursing staff will give you specific instructions to help keep you safe. It’s very important for you to follow these instructions. Be sure to call for help before getting out of bed, getting up from a chair, or going to the bathroom.
5. Identification required:  Expect all caregivers to ask your name, date of birth, and check your ID band frequently. This will happen before administering medications, blood or IV fluids, drawing blood, performing procedures, or transporting you for care from one area of the hospital to another. This may become repetitious, so we appreciate your patience.  Proper identification is the primary factor in preventing medical errors.
6. Understanding each procedure:  Before you undergo an operation or procedure, make sure that your doctor has explained it to you. Make sure that you understand how it will help you, what the risks and possible outcomes are, and what other types of treatment may be available.
7. Surgical identification policy:  Before an operation or procedure, expect your caregivers to check your identity, the specific operation or procedure planned, and the site of the operation. The exact site will be marked to avoid any confusion when right or left sites are possible; for example, procedures on a foot or an arm.
8. Healthy hygiene:  We expect you and your visitors to maintain the highest personal hygiene in our hospital environment, and you should require the same from us. Health First is committed to care that minimizes the possibility of you getting an infection. Our standards require hand washing before and after direct hands-on care. If you’re concerned that this has not occurred, we expect you to speak up and remind us about the importance of hand washing in infection prevention. It’s also very important that you wash your hands often, especially before eating and after using the bathroom, plus don’t touch any wound or IV site.
9. Safe activity:  Your doctor will determine a specific level of activity that’s appropriate while you’re a patient in one of our hospital. You are, of course, safest staying either in your room or on the clinical unit where our staff is readily available if needed. We discourage unsupervised movement beyond the clinical unit, such as to visit the cafeteria or go outside the hospital. Leaving the clinical unit with any type of drains, IV catheters, or portable oxygen equipment could present a safety hazard for you and should be avoided.
10. No smoking policy:  Because it’s well established and accepted that smoking, or any type of tobacco use, is detrimental to your health, we strongly discourage tobacco use in any form or setting. We provide a smoke-free environment as a pro-active measure to protect the health of our associates, patients, visitors, volunteers, and other customers. Smoking is only allowed in the designated areas outside of the hospital. Patients must be able to reach these areas on their own or with the assistance of non-associates. You must have a physician-prescribed physical activity order or condition that doesn’t prevent movement off of the clinical unit. We strongly prefer that, for your health and safety, you DON’T smoke. We’ll assist you with quitting, if desired, or with counseling and pharmaceutical resources while you’re in the hospital.

Printable version of 10 Patient Safety Commandments