Patient Safety Priority

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Patient Safety: A Priority in Nursing Practice

Abstract
Nurses fulfill many roles in their profession. Even though nurses may recognize a wide range of issues that must be addressed in practice, a focus on patient safety can help develop these areas and lead to the achievement of multiple nursing care goals. The current research considers the importance of patient safety and the need for nurses to make this issue a top priority.

Patient Safety: A Priority in Nursing Practice
Nurses face a multitude of challenges in their clinical roles. Providing high quality care in a cost conscious environment while compassionately and comprehensively meeting the needs of patients, are all aspects of nursing practice that must be considered by nurses. Although there is no solution for addressing all of these issues at the same time, a focus on patient safety appears to offer a wide range of different supports that can facilitate favorable outcomes in many of these areas. Because of the responsibility of patient safety in nursing practice, there is a movement for nurses to consider this issue and to make it a top priority in providing nursing care.
Definition and Scope of Safety in Healthcare
In order for nurses to make safety a top priority for nursing care, it is necessary to provide some insight into the definition of safety and its overall role in the healthcare system. Vaismoradi, Salsali and Marck (2011) consider the definitions of patient safety developed by international health agencies including the World Health Organization (WHO). Specifically, these authors assert that “Patient safety has been broadly conceptualized as the prevention of unnecessary patient harm or potential harm” (p. 434). Vaismoradi and associates go on to note that in practical terms, patient safety includes not only the reduction of unsafe practices which may cause harm but also
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