This topic is the touchstone of all other safety topics and actions. Safety culture is the attitude, belief and value of an organization that safety should be prioritized and risks to negative health effects be minimized. Additionally, this topic covers surveillance activities and quality improvement.
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AAPD Policy on Patient Safety
The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) recognizes patient safety as an essential component of quality oral health care for infants, children, adolescents, and those with special health care needs. The AAPD encourages dentists to consider thoughtfully the environment in which they deliver health care services and to implement practices to improve patient safety. This policy is not intended to duplicate safety recommendations for medical facilities accredited by national commissions such as The Joint Commission or those related to workplace safety such as Occupational Safety and Health Administration.WHO Patient Safety (Multi-professional Patient Safety Curriculum Guide)
This web-based resource covers patient safety policies and strategies, medication safety, education and training, technical topics, patient engagement in safety, networks and partnerships, safety-related publications and more.An Algorithm-Based Approach for Behavior and Disease Management in Child
An Algorithm-Based Approach for Behavior and Disease Management in Child proposes a decision-tree for dentists to consider when discussing behavior and disease management options with caregivers of young children with early childhood caries. Based on expert opinion and current literature describing case selection for advanced pharmacologic behavior guidance, this decision-tree offers an algorithm for treatment planning and a template for counseling families when considering the risks, benefits, and options for behavior and disease management.Improving Patient and Worker Safety: Opportunities for Synergy, Collaboration, and Innovation by The Joint Commission
Improving Patient and Worker Safety: Opportunities for Synergy, Collaboration, and Innovation by The Joint Commission highlights the important relationship between patient and worker safety and makes a call to action to un-silo safety programs in health care. See Chapter 3 for examples of activities and interventions to improve safety on page 61. To learn more about the common thread that weaves worker safety with patient safety, see Chapter 4 on page 131.10 Steps to Promote a Culture of Patient Safety
This blog post describes ten key steps to building a foundation for patient safety in the dental setting.Creating a Culture of Safety
Creating a Culture of Safety covers the basics of creating a safety-first work culture in dentistry.Eleven Basic Procedures/Practices for Dental Patient Safety
Eleven Basic Procedures/Practices for Dental Patient Safety reports on a study of legal claims of dental adverse events to identify the common causes of the three forms of adverse event that lead to unintended patient harm: preventable errors, complications and accidents. Their findings point to eleven practices that promote patient safety. The authors list the practices and highlight considerations for each. Click here to view.10 Workplace Safety Topics for Meetings to Bookmark
10 Workplace Safety Topics for Meetings to Bookmark highlights the importance of “safety talks”, time set aside to “inform people about workplace risks and safety training, to evaluate prior safety-related incidents, and to keep people alert and aware of potential hazards” and lists ten topics to start the conversation.7 Crucial Safety Topics To Include In Your Employee Training Program
This article shares several topical areas to cover when creating effective training programs in the workplace. -
To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) released this catalyst report on safety issues in medicine in 1999, inspiring health care leaders to look at the systems that promote errors. Chapter 8: Creating Safety Systems in Health Care Organizations focuses on main principles in safety system design. Principle 2, featured on page 170, recognizes human limits when designing jobs and processes in order to promote safety and simplify/standardize work processes.Promoting a Culture of Safety as a Patient Safety Strategy: A Systematic Review
Promoting a Culture of Safety as a Patient Safety Strategy reviews articles about developing a culture of safety as a core element of efforts to improve patient safety. While the authors found the quality of evidence low, they concluded, “Evidence suggests interventions can improve perceptions of safety culture and potentially reduce patient harm”.Patient Safety and Dentistry: What Do We Need to Know? Fundamentals of Patient Safety, the Safety Culture and Implementation of Patient Safety Measures in Dental Practice.
This journal article provides an overview of patient safety concepts and their application to dentistry.Developing a Patient Safety Culture in Primary Dental Care
Developing a Patient Safety Culture in Primary Dental Car presents short summaries of a few essential safety concepts that can be applied to dentistry. Table 2 includes good practices versus suboptimal practices in the dental setting related to critical areas of safety.Developing Patient Safety in Dentistry
Developing Patient Safety in Dentistry concisely describes history of safety initiatives in the U.S. and UK, followed by four strategies to develop safer health care.Factors Affecting Patient Safety Culture Among Dental Healthcare Workers: A Nationwide Cross-Sectional Survey
Factors Affecting Patient Safety Culture Among Dental Healthcare Workers: A Nationwide Cross-Sectional Survey reports on a study that assessed patient safety attitudes and safety climate among dental professionals. Key findings were that age and place of work were significantly associated with positive safety attitude scores.Creating a Culture of Safety in Dental Practice Settings
Creating a Culture of Safety in Dental Practice Settings introduces the role of the infection control coordinator (ICC) as a safety enhancing feature of dental practice. Learn what it is and the benefits of integrating the role into your practice.Creating a Culture of Safety in Dental Practice Settings: Defining the Role of the Infection Control Coordinator
After making the argument for integrating an infection control coordinator (ICC) into one’s practice, the author presents what the new role could look like, suggesting there are multiple ways to implement the position. This article provides a short guideline for the role and responsibilities of an ICC. -
Creating a Culture of Safety
Creating a Culture of Safety introduces the journey to safety in other industries such as automobile and aviation is introduced as background information and potential models for dentistry. The authors propose straightforward steps in creating a culture of safety in a diagram that is easy to understand and follow.Ansbro Safety Culture Spectrum
Ansbro Safety Culture Spectrum provides a self-evaluation tool for systems to evaluate where they are now and where they would like to go. This tool categorizes safety levels to Reactive, Compliant, Managed and Comprehensive with detailed attributes for each category.Small Business Safety and Health Handbook
Small Business Safety and Health Handbook from OSHA, in collaboration with the CDC, NIOSH and the US Department of Labor, summarizes the benefits of an effective safety and health program, provides self-inspection checklists for employers to identify workplace hazards, and reviews key workplace safety and health resources for small businesses. -
6 Elements of True Patient Safety Culture
Developed by Becker’s Hospital Review, this article covers the essential components of safety culture in health care, highlighting that “healthcare organizations across the country have significantly ramped up the focus on patient safety and quality improvement, and for good reason. Under the healthcare reform law, healthcare providers' reimbursements will be linked to the quality of healthcare services, including patients' experiences, starting in 2013. A slew of efforts — federal demonstration projects, provider-payor collaborations and provider-level pilot projects, to name a few — are cropping up, as the healthcare industry prepares for this shift in healthcare payment and delivery.”Balancing “No Blame” with Accountability in Patient Safety
Balancing “No Blame” with Accountability in Patient Safe examines how provider accountability fits into the of the systems-thinking approach to patient safety.From Good to Better: Toward a Patient Safety Initiative in Dentistry
From Good to Better: Toward a Patient Safety Initiative in Dentistry describes the steps forward to safe dental practice, identifying key areas to focus on.Safety in Dentistry: Perspectives and Directions
The first of a two-part series on safety, this complete issue of the Journal of the Californian Dental Society consists of expert-written articles to help navigate the complexities of the topic of safety in dentistry.8 Workplace Safety Tips Every Employee Should Know
In this article, workplace safety specialists, eSafety, compiled the eight key practices for leaders to keep in mind when taking safety notes on their work environments.Top 5 Workplace Safety Tips from Experts
This article presents curated advice from various industry leaders on the top five safety considerations.