Patient safety practices among nurses  in the Maternity Units of a Tertiary 

 

ABSTRACT 

 

Introduction: This cross sectional descriptive study assessed the patient safety practices of registered nurses working in the Maternity Units of a tertiary care centre. A total of 80 registered nurses were selected for the study using purposive sampling technique and were observed on their patient safety practices, using an observational check list  in areas of drug management, equipment management, disposable supply management, infection control, patient identification, safety and security protocols, effective communication and records &  reports. 

 

Results: Only 11.25% of the registered nurses participated in the study were found to fall in the ‘Acceptable’ category for patient safety practices. The rest of the subjects exhibited varying levels of patient safety practices in areas under observation. To be categorized as ‘Acceptable’, out of the total 112 observations, a subject needs to score ‘Ýes’ to 90 or more observations.  Rest of the participants scored Ýes’ to less than 90 of the patient safety practices under observation, rendering them to be categorized in ’Non Acceptable’ level for patient safety practices.  

 

Conclusions:There is tremendous scope for improvement in the patient safety practices among registered nurses under study, which is the need of the hour to bring down  the maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity rates in India substantially. The factors interfering with the safety practices must be looked into and corrective measures can be taken to significantly improve the safety practices for improving the patient outcome.