Improving Patient Safety in the Physician Office
Patient safety should be a priority in any healthcare setting. Patients may have mobility issues, and staff should be aware of this factor. Moving carts and maneuvering around a room with patients is especially important.
The Patient: Your #1 Priority
Physicians should recognize that the welfare of patients should be foremost when the patient has come to see them in the office. Not only does the safety of patients involve basic hand hygiene, the reporting of errors, and the use of checklists, it involves being aware of the best methods of care.
Some present measures that are being taken to make a doctor's office safer, include the following:
- Minimal time in waiting rooms
- Social distancing
- Reduced patient traffic
- Cleaning and disinfecting
A Comfortable Healthcare Worker
When nurses are more comfortable during their time with patients, it increases everyone's safety. The right mobile workstation that is ergonomically comfortable will increase their effectiveness with patients, assuring that medical management will be done correctly.
Bending, stooping, and pushing and pulling a cart may tire a healthcare worker, making them more prone to mistakes and accidents within the office.
Medication Safety
The safety of patients is important; that is why medication management should be a priority in a physician's office. Medical carts that lock can prevent mismanagement of prescription medications, while nurses should be alert and aware while with a patient.
Improving systems and preventing errors is a large part of the management of a physician's office.
Some Actual Solutions...
There are medical carts available that have been designed with the safety of patients in mind. A medication management delivery cart might have barcode patient identification and direct eMAR API access. It can be used in the physician's office as well in other healthcare settings. Accuracy is maintained, and efficiency is highlighted with the medical cart that allows for data capture and specific drawers that are tied to the medical records of the patient. This type of cart improves workflow, enables compliant medication delivery practices, and helps to avoid common shortcuts, which could affect safety.
With the safety of patients in mind, we have other solutions that can make the work of healthcare professionals and nurses more comfortable and safer. A mobile medical cart, including a laptop workstation on wheels, is designed to be ergonomically comfortable for the caregiver, promoting comfort and efficiency that make mistakes less likely to occur.
A mobile computer workstation should be adjustable for the comfort of the nursing staff and meet a variety of ergonomic standards. With users of different heights, adjustments add to the comfort and safety of the staff as well as patients.
The Air You Breathe.
While in the office of a physician, patients should be breathing air that is clean and a benefit to their health, especially when a variety of patients have passed through a doctor's office. Patient safety has many facets, and the air might be one of them.
A medical cart that is equipped with fanless charging helps to reduce the circulation of debris, dust, and contaminants that could be harmful to a patient. Carts that have antimicrobial additives, such as Microban®, are safer and do not allow chipping and cracking of the cart's surface.
We can provide a demo of our workstations on wheels, medication delivery carts, and more. Contact us to learn about our safety solutions for the physician's office.
