Understanding Patient Safety

This book offers a wide range of views on the emergence of patient safety in the NHS, which is now considered an area of high priority in healthcare. This book begins with an introduction charting the geneaology of patient safety both internationally and in the UK from the late 1980s up until the present time. Other chapters in the book discuss the patient s role in safety and the role of the National Patient Safety Agency, the role of the professionals in keeping patients safe, safe staffi ng levels, risk management, infection control, how patients evaluate safety, information for safety, evidence-based practice for safety, and the importance of learning the lessons from safety failures.