Public safety is a major safety concern and the Sultanate of Oman will launch the guidelines and framework for Patient Engagement on September 18.
Internationally, all the countries work hand in hand to have standards that provide better patient safety. In Oman, this journey began in 2016 with a patient-friendly WHO framework and was implemented in 28 government and private hospitals.
According to Dr Qamra al Sariri, Director-General, Quality Assurance Centre, Ministry of Health, 15 hospitals are now certified patient-safe, ‘friendly hospitals’ in Oman.
“We have many standards aimed at reducing the harm in the system. We have implemented in these hospitals around 130 standards ranging between provision of care, leadership, medication safety and so on. So we are guaranteeing a safe environment while providing medical care,” she said.
The era of patient safety has evolved since the Covid pandemic.
“This year, you will see in our theme that we are moving towards patient empowerment and engagement. We want to empower and engage our clients in the services and provide better quality of care and reach higher satisfaction,” she pointed out.
September is National Patient Safety Month, and the Ministry of Health has lined up many activities until the end of the month. These activities are related to patient safety. The international society celebrates Global Patient Safety Day on September 17 every year. “Every year, we come up with different themes. All the countries this year will be focusing on patient engagement. Previously, we had patients’ rights; now, we want them to be engaged when we are giving them the treatment,” she noted.
The framework and guidelines will be launched during the Oman Health Exhibition and Con-ference organised by Connect under the auspices of the Ministry of Health.
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