HUS year 2023: Quality and patient safety
In 2023, we published the HUS Quality Manual and launched the specification phase of a Group-wide ISO 9001 project. Safety event reports improved patient safety.
Every healthcare organization must have a plan for the implementation of quality management and patient safety. In public healthcare, a quality and patient safety plan (LAAPO plan, in Finnish) is also the organization’s self-monitoring plan.
The national Client and Patient Safety Strategy published by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health in spring 2022 is also a cornerstone of patient safety at HUS. The purpose of this Strategy is to harmonize quality and patient safety work nationally.
We published our Quality Manual
We published the HUS Quality Manual in 2023. The manual contains key documents governing quality and patient safety, along with the administrative Chief Medical Officer’s Guideline (JYL Guideline), which governs the quality and safety of patient care. The Quality Manual applies to all employees who engage in patient care or who indirectly contribute to patient care and services.
ISO 9001 project and self-monitoring program launched
We began the specification phase of the ISO 9001 in 2023. This involves planning the phased progress and resource needs of the project. The project team produced a communication plan and a preliminary outline for a HUS-level operating manual and process description, for example.
The Joint Authority Executive approved the self-monitoring program in September. Work began in the autumn on self-monitoring plan templates and internal auditing for clinical departments.
Administrative guidelines added to Guideline Databank
The Guideline Databank is a document management system for all HUS guidelines. Most guidelines have already been entered into the Guideline Databank, and administrative guidelines are being added as of 2023.
The Guideline Databank ensures that all HUS guidelines are available in one place and that an automatic reminder is generated for updates. The name of the coordinator for each guideline is also clearly stated. This improves quality and increases patient safety.
Safety event reports improve our work
Patient safety relies on continuous improvement, maintenance of patient safety, reporting of safety events (HaiPro) and orientation and training for employees. The goal is to minimize preventable adverse events. Patients can also file safety event reports.
There were 23,606 HaiPro reports filed in 2023 (22,955 in 2022).
Further information:
PosiPro disseminates best practices and contributes to job satisfaction
HUS uses the PosiPro system, which is based on the Learning from Excellence (LfE) method. Its purpose is to identify and concretely display current best practices and procedures which are learning opportunities and which could be adopted more widely. Following a pilot, PosiPro was adopted across HUS in spring 2023.
In 2023, 1,857 PosiPro reports were filed. The topics addressed had to do with the following:
- 80% involved cooperation,
- 79% involved good attitude,
- 76% involved the way we work,
- 52% involved social skills, and
- 8% involved other matters.
A person filing a PosiPro report is required to assess the immediate impacts of the best practice reported. Based on these estimates, 35% of the practices reported improved well-being at work, 32% improved customer and patient safety, and 24% improved customer and patient satisfaction.