Date of Award
12-14-2020
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Health Policy and Management
First Advisor
DR. Syed Mairajuddin Shah
Second Advisor
DR. Narjis Rizvi
Department
Community Health Sciences
Abstract
Background: Patient safety is defined as prevention of harm to patient.1 According to WHO patient safety is prevention of adverse effects and errors to patient associated with health care.2The goal of patient safety is to minimize preventable harm. Patient safety is comparatively a new discipline in health care. Human errors can never be eliminated completely and chances of error increase while working in a health care environment, where patients are dependent and need assistance of health care provider to perform their activities. In comparison to adult patients, pediatric population is at higher risk of facing safety issue during the period of hospitalization. In addition, patients less than five years of age including infants, neonates and preterm babies are at a much higher risk.3Some of common patient Safety issues in hospitalized children includes medications errors, wrong patient identification, wrong site surgeries, injuries due to fall, multiple pricks for intravenous access, warmer related burn injuries, healthcare associated infections due to poor hand hygiene practices. Objective: To find out the perceptions about patient safety among parents of children less than 5 years of age, admitted in a Tertiary Care Hospital of Karachi.
Method: An exploratory qualitative method has been used in study. Data was generated through face to face interview from 15 parents, whose children were admitted in a tertiary care hospital of Karachi. A semi structured questionnaire was used as a tool for data collection about parent’s perceptions of patient safety in hospital.
Results: The study explored perception of parents about patient safety in hospital. Findings revealed two major themes of parent’s perception about patient safety (a) Safety in healthcare services and (b) Parent’s involvement in ensuring safety. Finding shows that parents’ perceptions about patient safety are almost similar to patient safety issues identified by field of medicine. Most parents perceive that ensuring safety of children in hospital is not responsibility of healthcare providers only but it is responsibility of parents as well. Moreover, parents also believe that safety of their children in hospital can be improved by coordination of parents and healthcare providers.
Conclusion: The study explored perceptions of parents about patient safety in a hospital. Parents believe that safety of children should be considered strictly while providing healthcare services in hospital. Parents identified their roles and they showed interest to be part of care to ensure safety of their children in hospital. However study identified an opportunity for future studies in finding out strategies to involve parents in the care of their children to improve safety of children. Moreover, it recommends healthcare providers in partnering with parents to make family centered care for improvement in identifying and reporting safety issues and finding their solutions.
First Page
1
Last Page
40
Recommended Citation
Shah, S. A.
(2020). Perceptions about patient safety among parents of children less than 5 years of age, admitted in a tertiary care hospital of Karachi. , 1-40.
Available at:
https://ecommons.aku.edu/etd_pk_mc_mhpm/19