APHNH reiterates that healthcare worker safety is patient safety

The Association of Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes (APHNH), in commemoration of World Patient Safety Day, has recognised that healthcare worker protection has been integral to ensuring patient safety during the pandemic.

In keeping with the trajectory of this year, the theme for World Patient Safety Day was “Health Worker Safety: A Priority for Patient Safety.” Healthcare institutions internationally focused on the interlinkage between healthcare worker safety and patient safety and discussed initiatives used to protect frontline workers world over.

“Sri Lanka has had one of the most successful COVID-19 responses in the world, with only 236 active cases as of 16 September 2020. The key to this resounding success was keeping the men and women in the frontlines of this crisis safe,” said APHNH President Dr. Lakith Peiris in a media release issued by the association.

“Going forward, I would like to see greater investment in the well-being of our medical staff. The role they play in this economy and to society has been largely overlooked.”

During the ongoing pandemic, health workers faced the most significant threat through increased exposure. Globally, it is reported that 55 per cent of COVID-19 related healthcare worker deaths were of doctors and physicians, particularly primary care physicians (American Board of Family Medicine, 2020). In recognizing that front-line health workers faced the greatest risk, Dr. Peiris affirmed that the association and its members made it a priority to follow COVID-19 precautions and operational guidelines. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) operational guidelines for maintaining essential health services during COVID-19 stated that countries have to comply with the highest standard of precautions. At a fundamental level, this included frequent sterilization, strict protocols for the donning and doffing of PPE, and the self-isolation of HCW to ensure their safety.

Subsequently in Sri Lanka, the Ministry of Health directives laid out stringent regulations that APHNH member hospitals and nursing homes abided by. In addition to WHO hygiene practices, hospitals made it a priority to triage and isolate patients and visitors. Additionally, APHNH member hospitals and nursing homes proactively added precautionary measures as necessary. Notably, in most hospitals, daily internal sanitation audits were conducted, and batch rotation was introduced to minimize the risk of exposure.

Beyond these foundations, APHNH hospitals recognised that a concerted effort to keep health workers safe would also have to include medical process reengineering. To keep doctors and physicians safe, non-emergency surgeries were only performed if the patient had tested negative for COVID-19. Additionally, clinical practices like emergency intubations were carried out in isolated areas, and advanced ultraviolet air sterilization was introduced to ensure that nurses and doctors would not be in immediate danger. APHNH recognizes that these additional precautionary measures practices helped minimize the exposure of their health workers to the coronavirus.