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In future Medicine will develop and flourish in collaboration with Information Technology(Pulse International (Pakistan) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Pakistan Islamic Medical Association (PIMA) in collaboration with PharmEvo organized a seminar on Patient Safety: Quality Care with a Smile at Aga Khan University Hospital Karachi on November 30th 2013. It was largely attended by healthcare professionals including a large number of medical students from various medical institutions in the city. Mr. Farrukh Malik a pharmacist by profession, Senior Manager Medical Affairs and Research at PharmEvo was the facilitator. The session was jointly chaired by Dr. Naeemul Haque a noted physician and endocrinologist along with Dr.Misbahul Aziz President of PIMA(C). In his interactive presentation Mr. Farrukh Malik highlighted some of the areas in patient care which remain neglected or where lot of improvements can be made without any funding. Quality Care Mindset is what we are trying to promote and achieve and he hoped that after attending the session many amongst the audience will become part of it to promote patient centric quality care. One of our objectives by organizing such meetings, Mr. Farrukh Malik stated was to build capacity so that you become better professional which will benefit not only your institutions but patients as well. In future medicine will develop and flourish in collaboration with Information Technology. It is important that physicians start recording and data collection and documentation. Healthcare ecosystem, Mr. Farrukh Malik opined consist of close collaboration between healthcare professionals, academia, faculties, regulators and industry wherein patients is right in the center. They all play an important role in improving the quality of care. Researchers and Academia are important because they set guidelines. Capacity building helps in understanding the concept of quality of service in patient care. Healthcare professionals perform different roles which include as Manager, scholar, leaders and communicator. Professionals also work for health advocacy. All doctors contribute in collection of base line data after taking patient history irrespective of the fact whether they use this data or somebody else uses it. They have to be excellent communicator and know how to communicate with the patient, government agencies and media. Delivery of healthcare needs collaboration of different people. Patients are the consumers who obtain healthcare. Healthcare professionals make diagnosis, treat and care while the facilitating organizations include finance, coordination, and regulation. The goals of healthcare consist of cost effective, accessible quality healthcare. Reliability, durability, performance, perceived quality, aesthetics and serviceability are all extremely important in quality. Continuing Mr. Farrukh Malik said that a survey done in United States showed that nursing profession was on top among all the professionals who are trusted the most by Americans followed by Pharmacists and Medical Doctors. Nurses scored 85%, pharmacists 75%, doctors 70% trust while trust figures for dentists and journalists were 62% and 24% respectively. The nurses scored the highest Trust because they spend most of the time with the patients and provide sympathetic care. According to WHO Health and Human Rights go together. Mr. Farrukh Malik advised the healthcare professionals to be careful of the near misses. Medical Errors take place even in the best healthcare facilities and it is extremely important to look for the route cause of these errors. Do not focus on person but on the problems otherwise it will reoccur. The route cause could be related to personnel, place, procedure and policy. Most often the errors occur when standard operating procedures are not in place and they are not followed. Hence these medical errors are most often failure of the system and not individuals. Un-necessary interference or no interference to monitor and enforce accountability can also lead to these errors. Hence, one must always analyze the route cause of the problems but never blame the patient as they are in a vulnerable position. Healthcare professionals should ensure patient’s compliance with therapy and instructions; facilitate their patients to be compliant. It is quite possible that the patient did not understand the instructions. Speed of service, confidentiality, reliability of services provided, value for money, simplicity is all important in patient satisfaction who also wants to be treated with respect. Personal standards are also important i.e. appearance, body language and tone while delivering service, attentiveness, tact, guidance, selling skills and gracious problem solving are all important. Patients should not be de-empowered but they should be fully involved in their treatment. If they are not involved, there is no dialogue with the patient, they feel vulnerable and think they have no voice in the system. Hence it is always important to have the patient on board while taking decisions about their disease management. Reliability, assurance, responsiveness, empathy and tangible are some of the elements of quality patient service. If you have made some mistake, say sorry which is most important? Be careful, compassionate, and clean and provide competent care. Patients want to know what is happening to them. Pain is unacceptable. Make sure that the pre-hospital area is clean, ensure healthy environment. Knowing your patient and knowing the service, knowing your institution is helpful. Develop excellent communication with your patient. Communication skills could be verbal or non-verbal. Doctors should be good listeners for which they need to develop listening skills. Listen to understand, do not argue with the patient. At times the physicians might come across dominant, influencing, steady and compliant patient who knows much more about the disease he or she is suffering from. Apologize for the mistake and focus on problem rather than person. Patient care service should include recovery strategy and ensure quality patient services. He concluded his presentation with a quotation which said,” coming together is beginning, keeping together is progress and working together is success.“ He urged the participants to get involved, make a difference and become an agent of change to improve quality of patient care. In his concluding remarks Dr. Naeemul Haque commended the speaker for his excellent presentation. He also emphasized the fact that we need to give importance to the Patient who should come First. The presentation dealt at length how one should deal with the patients. Medicine, Dr. Naeemul Haque remarked is not only science but art as well. If you take care of the patient better, they will be thankful to you. Dr. Misbahul Aziz thanked the speaker, PharmEvo for their collaboration, the chairpersons and the participants. Mr. Jamshed Ahmad Chief Operating Officer of PharmEvo and Dr. Azeemuddin were also present on the occasion. |