Basudeb Ghosh
Ex-Director, Guru Nanak Eye Centre
New Delhi
Whenever there is medical fallout in our country the scapegoat always happens to be the treating doctor. The nightmarish physical, mental and monetary drain out that follows is well known to all of us. It is therefore high time that each one of us get rid of the false aura that –“nothing has or can happen to me and I can wriggle out of every eventuality”.
NABH happens to provide a critical safeguard to minimize this unwanted situation by rightly understanding and explaining the fact that “patient satisfaction is the key determinant of quality of health care”. It stresses on the reality that quality and safety of medical care are intimately interlinked with clinical and organizational governance and management. It drives home the truth that “prevention is better than cure” and helps promote safe and ethical practices. It ensures provision of functional requirement by the eye care service provider with desired infrastructure of building, equipment, manpower, appropriate medical management, infection control and patient safety norms . As a result of all these, procedural and human errors can be minimized. It also helps in development of honest, transparent and ethical work culture to the best of one’s ability.
The following aspects are prophesized and desired:
• Documentation and procedural details for anything and everything
• Well formulated assessment and care plan which is time bound
• Adequate laboratory & investigation services (in-house /outsourced)
• Uniform care to all patients in different settings
• Practice of evidence based medicine and clinical practice guidelines
• Safeguard for medicine, anesthesia, diagnostic, laser and surgical procedures
• Involvement of patient and family in decision making, consent, continued care and likely cost to be incurred
• Appropriately designed infection control program including OT infrastructure, sterilization procedure, BMW (biomedical waste) handling and antibiotic policy
• Provision for safe water, electricity and fire escape
• Regular medical audit, proper inventory and log books, well designed engineering control and housekeeping
procedure
• A strong and healthy human resource and information management system including maintenance of medical
records
Having said all this it is evident that there will be a slightly higher price tag involved. But believe me, these essentialities are getable even in small establishments and very much worth the risks involved in our present work scenario.