The effectiveness of hospital patient safety programs: A systematic review

Abstract

This systematic review critically examined the effectiveness of hospital patient safety programs in enhancing nursing care delivery within a global context. Rooted in the Donabedian model, the study assesses the structure, process, and outcomes of various safety programs, including Medication Reconciliation, Hand Hygiene Programs, Rapid Response Teams, Surgical Safety Checklists, Fall Prevention Programs, Infection Control Programs, Clinical Documentation Improvement Programs, Incident Reporting Systems, Reducing Diagnostic Errors, and Patient Identification Systems. Utilizing a robust methodology involving a comprehensive literature search across major databases and applying strict inclusion criteria, this research synthesizes findings from forty selected studies. For structure, the results underscore the importance of a robust infrastructure in healthcare, highlighting key elements like medical resource availability, effective staff training, and strong leadership to enhance patient safety. For process, the findings emphasize the necessity of continuous evaluation and adaptation of procedures such as hygiene protocols, surgical checklists, and patient communication to improve healthcare delivery. Lastly, for the outcomes component, patient safety programs globally showed reductions in hospital-acquired infections and medication errors, stressing the need for ongoing quality improvement and specific adaptations to healthcare contexts to advance patient safety and healthcare quality. The systematic review implies that hospital patient safety programs significantly enhance global nursing care and patient outcomes through well-structured infrastructures emphasizing medical resources, training, and leadership, alongside dynamic, evidence-based processes like hygiene protocols and surgical checklists. These programs lead to measurable improvements in reducing hospital-acquired infections, medication errors, and falls, indicating the effectiveness of continuous quality improvements and the need for customized safety strategies to specific healthcare contexts.