Introduction
The hospital can be a saving grace for patients who need care for some serious injuries or diseases. It can also be a hazardous place where infections and dangers are all around us. The hospital in general can be a hectic environment to be in, especially during these times of a global pandemic. Safety and security have become priorities within hospitals for the staff involved at the hospital at all times.
Let’s see what these security and safety protocols are that create a better hospital setting for everyone who visits or enters.
Safety for the Staff
There are all sorts of dangers that can be experienced at a hospital. This has resulted in there being put into place some safety restrictions and regulations that all hospital staff must follow while being on duty. Staff safety programs and protocols help to protect healthcare workers from certain dangerous situations that they may come across while working in a hospital.
Workplace violence.
The hospital can surprisingly come with instances where there can be violence experienced by the workers. This can come from confrontations with patients who are panicking in the emergency room. Mental health workers face this the most when patients are not mentally sane to cope with the situation of being in a hospital.
Work-related injuries.
A majority of injuries that healthcare workers face are experienced from overexerting their physical bodies when moving around patients a lot in the hospital. Sometimes when there is an emergency, some of them may try to run to the source of the emergency and end up injuring themselves in the process (either by tripping or bumping into someone as an example).
Infections.
Many patients being treated in the hospital are often cases of severe infections or illnesses brought upon by either bacteria, viruses, fungi or parasites. These infectious agents can attach themselves onto the healthcare worker aiding the patient that may have these infectious agents.
Natural disasters.
This depends greatly on where in the world a hospital is placed, but nevertheless, safety still needs to be observed when there is a natural disaster occurring. This can range from earthquakes to severe storms hitting an area particularly close to where hospitals are located.
The overall goal for the safety precautions practiced by the healthcare workers in the hospital is to keep themselves safe first so that they can better help patients get the care that they need from their services.
Benefits from these safety protocols
Safety protocols are to be followed by all members of hospital staff. This is to ensure that no one is left out in knowing the protocol and to be able to handle any situation that requires their knowledge of these protocols. When everyone is on board with their safety, the state of the staff can lead to saving more lives in the workplace.
Another benefit from this is a decline of practices going wrong in many hospital procedures. When certain healthcare workers make a mistake, the patient will be compensated for their malpractice. When all of the staff follows the safety protocols, there will be a significantly lower amount of malpractices happening within the hospital.
Conclusion
The hospital may be a safe place to take care of patients in need of care the most, but with the environment of the hospital comes some areas of danger for everyone, especially the staff involved.
How else can the hospital staff practice safety in their workplace?