Elevating Patient Safety: Seminar Highlights Global Best Practices in Healthcare Systems
- Karen Scheepers
- Aug 7
- 2 min read
On 6 August 2025, Potchefstroom Hospital, together with North West University and the National Research Foundation, hosted a Patient Safety Seminar at the Residence Hall. The event centered on transforming healthcare quality by creating safer systems that reduce risks, prevent mistakes, and foster a culture of continuous learning and improvement.
Global Insights into Patient Safety Systems
Patient safety is defined by the World Health Organization as the absence of preventable harm during healthcare delivery, achieved through structured activities, including leadership, communication, training, reporting systems, technology, and patient engagement, that consistently reduce risks and adverse outcomes.
Leading institutions such as the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) advocate a total systems approach, integrating safety science, high-reliability principles, leadership commitment, and learning systems to eliminate harm and build safety competencies among healthcare workers.
Essential Tools and Innovations Supporting Safer Care
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) collaborates with global partners through its “Safer Together” initiative to share safety research and advance actionable improvements across healthcare systems.
Technological systems like Computerized Provider Order Entry (CPOE) dramatically reduce medication errors, by as much as 80% overall and 55% in harm-related incidents and are endorsed as vital safety strategies.
Similarly, barcode medication verification at bedside prevents administration errors, with studies showing up to an 82% reduction in such errors and a 20% drop in mortality rates.
Another key tool is the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist, whose implementation has proportionally reduced surgical complications and mortality by up to a third in diverse healthcare settings, making it a globally recommended, cost-effective safety intervention.
Cultivating a Safety Culture and System Thinking
Research underscores the value of a non-punitive safety culture rooted in open communication, leadership engagement, and ongoing training. Tools such as the SOPS (Safety Attitudes Questionnaire) help measure and strengthen this culture within healthcare teams .
A systems-thinking approach further enhances safety by recognizing interconnected factors, staff behavior, workflow design, environmental clarity and addressing root causes in a structured, collectively informed way.
Effective communication frameworks, such as the SBAR model (Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation), have proven to improve handover clarity, minimize miscommunication, and reduce patient harm.
Final thought
The Patient Safety Seminar in Potchefstroom reflects a growing trend toward system-based reforms and evidence-driven innovations in healthcare. By incorporating global best practices, ranging from digital tools like CPOE and barcode verification, to checklists and communication models, healthcare providers can build safer, more trustworthy environments that consistently support patient well-being.
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