Implementation of Surgical Safety Checklist
Patient safety has been an essential component of the health system in the country for the last few years. In order to assure proper surgical care which will minimize common deadly and preventable errors in the system, DHQS has taken initiatives to introduce a surgical safety checklist to all hospitals island wide.
WHO introduced a surgical safety check list intended to be globally acceptable. The WHO check-list has been adopted with modifications and streamlined in consultation with experts in relevant colleges.
The checklist should be implemented for all minor and major surgeries performed in hospitals. Once the surgery is performed and the check list is completed, it should be kept with the patients records.
Informed Consent for Surgery
Informed consent in medical care is a process of communication between a clinician and a patient that results in the patient’s authorization or agreement to undergo a specific medical intervention (The Joint Commission). The process of obtaining informed consent is an essential aspect of patient-centered care and remains central to patient safety.
Lack of comprehended and standardized informed consent presents significant patient safety and quality of care risks in Sri Lankan health system. College of surgeons of Sri Lanka identifying the surgical consenting as urgent priority, has proposed ministry of health to introduce a mandatory consent form for intermediate and major surgical procedures. Directorate of health care quality and safety as the apex body in patient safety initiate and facilitate the process of preparing national informed consent format for surgical procedure with the participation of relevant stakeholders. First consultative meeting was held in collaboration with college of surgeons Sri Lanka.
Third Country Group Training Programme
Sri Lanka provides free healthcare services to all the citizens in the country has resulted in good health indices, when compared to the other countries in the region. However there are common problems related to quality in relation to the structure process and outcome.
In order to overcome this situation Sri Lankan hospitals introduced the Japanese style of management system, 5S as an entry point to the quality improvement. The guiding principle this program was to utilise the existing resources effectively to overcome the existing problems.
Sri Lanka has been able to produce good results with regard to the satisfaction of the patients and health staff and improved health outcome.Ministry of Health (MOH) of Sri Lanka wanted to share this experience with other neighbouring countries in Asia with low-resource setting similar problems as successful showcase.
The Japan international cooperation agency (JICA) and ministry of health agreed to organize training course in the field of hospital quality management under JICA s third country training program, targeting senior and middle level management in a secondary or tertiary hospital from Asian and African countries.
JICA bear the 85% of the expenses including air fare, accommodation and allowance while MOH take necessary measures to provide 15% of expenses of the course (curriculum development, Training facilities, equipment and running expense necessary for the implementation of the course).
The goal of the training program is to share the successful experience of Sri Lanka in relation to the quality improvement in health sector with other developing countries in Asia and Africa.
There were three program held 2014-2016.
Date | Duration | NO of participants | Participating countries |
09/02/2015 | 9 Days | 18 | Armenia, Mongolia, Cambodia, Egypt, Sudan, Iraq, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Jordan |
01/11/2015 | 9 Days | 20 | Bangladesh, Egypt, Cambodia, Vietnam, Jordan, Sudan |
30/10/2016 | 9 Days | 21 | Bangladesh, Egypt, Cambodia, Vietnam, Jordan, Sudan, Mongolia, Lesotho, Iraq |