Patient safety is critical to delivering quality, fair, timely, efficient, and essential health services. It involves delivering health services that are effective, safe, and people-centered, hence preventing and reducing risks, errors, and harm that occur to patients during the health care process. Patients’ involvement in their care is fundamental in preventing harm to themselves.
Timely and Adequate Communication
Patients should visit a health provider when they feel bad, other than going to the pharmacy for self-medication. Early reporting and diagnosis help reduce the risk of adverse events and ensures adequate measures are taken to prevent disease progression. Patients should be honest and open to their health providers when describing symptoms because lying to your doctor can cause complications and problems, such as misdiagnosis and incorrect treatment.
Asking Questions
A patient should be free to contact health providers for inquiries and explanations on the disease, its treatment, duration of treatment, and any side effects involved. Ask for an explanation about your laboratory and radiology results from your health provider. A second opinion from a qualified health provider is also necessary for confirmation. Patients should participate in decision-making by expressing their opinions about different treatment methods and the most preferred.
Reading the package insert
Package inserts contain information about the product, its use, and side effects if any. Reading the package inserts for medications will enhance vigilance, prevent and reduce the chances of mix-ups, overdoses, or misuse of medications. https://www.afyaboraafrika.com/post/always-read-the-medicine-package-insert
Verifying the medication
Patients on home medication should always verify the drug before swallowing or injecting themselves. Confirm the expiry date, the drug condition, and timing. Follow the doctor’s recommendations as prescribed. Avoid self-medication when the symptoms recur, but rather seek advice from your health provider or a second opinion from a qualified health provider.
Avoiding unapproved medication
Patients should avoid using unapproved and unauthorized herbal drugs or mitishamba. Some might be unsafe and harmful to human health and may worsen your conditions or even lead to death. Avoid using unapproved herbal medicines with other pharmaceutical drugs because they can result in drug-drug interactions that may lead to a serious health condition or even death.
Avoiding Unsafe Practices
Patients should avoid unsafe practices such as sharing drugs, inhalers, and injections. Unsafe injection practices can lead to infection transmissions, such as HIV and hepatitis B and C, to patients. Patients using self-injections should keep the syringes and needles in a clean, sterile, and secured place and should not share with any other persons including friends, family, or other patients.
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