Patient Safety Improvement in the Gastroenterology Department: An Action Research

Background: Patient safety is a global concern. Safe and effective care can shorten hospital stays and prevent or minimize unintentional harm to patients. Therefore, it is necessary to continuously monitor and improve patient safety in all medical environments. This study is aimed at improving patient safety in gastroenterology departments.

Methods: The study was carried out as action research. The participants were patients, nurses and doctors of the gastroenterology department of Ayatollah Taleghani Hospital in Tehran in 2021-2022. Data were collected using questionnaires (medication adherence tool, patient education effectiveness evaluation checklist, and medication evidence-based checklist), individual interviews and focus groups. The quantitative data analysis was done using SPSS (v.20) and qualitative data analysis was done through content analysis method using MAXQDA analytic pro 2022 software.

Results: The majority of errors were related to medication and the patient's fault due to their lack of education and prevention strategy were active supervision, modification of clinical processes, improvement of patient education, and promotion of error reporting culture. The findings of the research showed that the presence of an active supervisor led to the identification and prevention of more errors (P<0.01). Regarding the improvement of clinical processes, elimination of reworks can increase satisfaction in nurses (P<0.01). In terms of patient education, the difference was not statistically significant (P>0.01); however, the mean medication adherence score was significantly different (P<0.01).

Conclusion: The improvement strategies of patient safety in Gastroenterology department included the modification of ward monitoring processes, improving/modification clinical processes, improvement of patient education, and development of error reporting culture. Identifying inappropriate processes and adjusting them based on the opinion of the stakeholders, proper patient education regarding self-care, careful monitoring using appropriate checklists, and presence of a supervisor in the departments can be effective in reducing the incidence rate. A comprehensive error reporting program provides an opportunity for employees to report errors.