Today Healthcare is not just confined to providing adequate Medical care or treatment. It is high time that we recognize and respect the need for a Patient Safety Friendly Hospital especially when Oman is steadily emerging as one of the most sought after healthcare destinations in the GCC region with new brands foraying into the segment every day. While this indicates a great future ahead in terms of strengthening the medical infrastructure of the country, we often tend to overlook a vital aspect of the healthcare services, which is Patient Safety.

Apollo Hospital Muscat and World Health Organization (WHO) have taken the initiative to launch a comprehensive patient safety program to address/emphasize the need for a Patient safety Friendly hospital. The Program would enhance patient safety by developing synchronized standards in terms of patient care by implementing high-reliability practices as part of quality improvement and by encouraging the participation of not only the Doctors, but the entire team including hospital managers, nursing and para-medical staff along with the patients to collaborate in this effort for a safe healthcare delivery system.

For the uninitiated, the Patient Safety Friendly Hospital Initiative (PSFHI) works on a two-fold approach adopted by the WHO which may be divided into an assessment phase followed by an improvement phase. The assessment of hospitals involves development and validation of an instrument to systematically identify and assess the practices related to patient safety. Following this, the assessment and measures introduced will subsequently improve the level of patient safety in the hospital while ensuring a standardized means to determine patient safety.

A culture of safety requires a shared recognition among all members of a health care organization, with regularly and rigorously enforced measures by professional and organizational leaders with the understanding that health care is a highly complex, error-prone, and thus high-risk frame work. Failures are inevitable when dealing with humans and complex systems, regardless of how hard the humans involved, try to avoid errors. However, anticipating the hazards and errors, processes can be designed both to avoid failures and to prevent patient harm with a structured model pertaining to Patient Safety to which every healthcare provider must adhere.

Therefore, it can be concluded that in order to develop a robust healthcare mechanism in the Sultante, the importance of Patient Safety cannot and should not be ignored at any cost as this is the fundamental benchmark and foundation of the quality of healthcare to be provided in any developed nation.