Author: Merce Beltran Vilagrasa, Nuria Jornet, Cristina Moreno Saiz, Maria Pinto Monedero, Carlos Prieto Martín, María José Rot San Juan, Pablo Saldaña Gutierrez, Agustin Santos 👨🔬
Affiliation: Servicio de Radiofísica Hospitalaria, Hospital Universitario Clínico San Cecilio, Servicio de Radiofísica y Protección Radiológica, Consorcio Hospitalario Provincial de Castellón, Servicio de Radiofísica y Protección Radiológica. Hospital Universitario de la Princesa, Servicio de Física Médica y Protección Radiológica, Instituto Catalán de Oncología/Hospital Universitario de Bellvitge, Servei de Física i Protecció Radiològica. Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron, Servei de Radiofísica i Radioprotecció. Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Servicio de Radiofísica y Protección Radiológica, Hospital Universitario Puerta de Hierro, Servicio de Radiofísica Hospitalaria, Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre 🌍
Purpose: Patient safety (PS) is a discipline that is not usually included in the training curricula of medical physics experts in many countries. This implies that PS is addressed by professional societies that have published comprehensive guidelines to deal with specific aspects of PS such as incident reporting or risk analysis. The Spanish Society of Medical Physics (SEFM) Patient Safety Committee has developed a guideline to establish local multidisciplinary PS groups for addressing the integrated management of PS in healthcare areas where ionizing radiation is used.
Methods: A committee of PS experts was established to review current literature, European legislation and best practices in PS. The guideline addresses the creation and operation of local PS groups to assume the management of the local incident reporting system, incident analysis and risk analysis. Specific recommendations for radiotherapy, nuclear medicine and radiology are included. The document takes a system failure approach, addressing the safety aspects in the continuous improvement actions that the organization needs to take to reduce risks.
Results: The resulting guidelines provide a structured approach to establishing and managing local Patient Safety Groups, defining their roles, responsibilities, and operational procedures. It summarizes the basic strategies for reactive analysis from incident reporting and proactive risk analysis. Finally, it integrates quality management for continuous improvement, enhancing communication with patients and staff involved in incidents and fostering a culture of patient safety within the institution.
Conclusion: A guide has been developed to assist in the comprehensive implementation of basic PS strategies, starting with the creation and operation SP groups to a comprehensive view of safety and quality management. It can be helpful to those professionals with no experience in PS and may serve as a basis for other professional societies committed to promoting PS in the areas of medical use of ionizing radiation.