Patient safety
The safety of our patients is of the utmost importance during their stay at the University Medical Center Freiburg. The University Medical Center Freiburg is a member/partner of nationwide organizations such as the 'Action Alliance for Patient Safety' or the 'Association of German University Hospitals'. In recent years, our hospital has also been a selected cooperation partner of an international campaign by the World Health Organization to test and implement various patient safety measures in hospitals.
To ensure your safety during your stay at the University Medical Center Freiburg, numerous quality projects have been introduced throughout the hospital to prevent/reduce potentially dangerous events.
To keep patient safety high, you will receive a patient wristband when you are admitted as an inpatient. This measure is also recommended by the German "Action Alliance for Patient Safety", among others. The wristband is an additional way for our staff to quickly identify you beyond doubt at any time, e.g. during procedures, examinations, blood sampling, medication, transportation, etc.. The patient wristband is therefore an important component of our patient safety concept.
A safety checklist is used before and during every surgical procedure at the University Medical Center Freiburg. This checklist was developed under the leadership of the World Health Organization and is now required by the health authorities in Germany. The following points, among others, are checked in several steps, with mutual confirmation of the information, from the preparation process on the ward through to anesthesia and surgery:
- Patient identity (multiple times, also via patient wristband)
- Type of procedure
- Location and side of the procedure (marked before surgery)
- At the end of the procedure, completeness of materials and details of the procedure performed
Compliance with the highest possible hygiene standards is an elementary component of patient treatment at our hospital.
Infections transmitted in hospitals ('hospital infections', also known as 'nosocomial infections') and infections caused by so-called multi-resistant germs represent potential risks for patients treated in hospitals worldwide. It should also be noted that a not insignificant proportion of the population is (undetected) colonized with such multi-resistant germs.
Under the leadership of our Institute for Infection Prevention and Hospital Hygiene, far-reaching measures are implemented at the University Hospital to protect our patients from hospital infections (examples):
As part of the nationwide 'clean hands' campaign, the correct disinfection of hands by staff, patients and visitors plays a central role in preventing the transmission of pathogens.
In our hospital, this issue is addressed through regular staff training, flyers for patients, visitors and staff, detailed information on the website and numerous signs.
In addition to the wards, there are also dispensers for hand disinfection in many visitor and outpatient areas with information boards on their use and other hygiene measures.
Further information on hygiene measures and instructions for hand disinfection at the University Hospital can be found on the website of the Institute for Infection Prevention and Hospital Hygiene and in the instructions for disinfection on the wall dispensers.
So-called multi-resistant germs (MRE) are not characterized by an increased infectious power compared to 'other' germs; however, due to their resistance to most common antibiotics, drug therapy options for infections with MRE are severely limited. However, MRE can be reliably killed with all common antiseptics and disinfectants.
Our hospital therefore pays the utmost attention to the prevention and detection of colonization/infection with MRE (see hand disinfection above) and, if necessary, specific measures if MRE is detected:
- Screening of patients with an increased risk before inpatient admission
- Screening for MRE during inpatient admission
- Examination for MRE on admission to the intensive care unit
- In case of MRE detection or suspicion:
- Preventive or actual isolation of bed space or room
- Intensive protective and hygiene measures for the staff caring for the affected patient
Due to an illness, limited mobility, medication or unfamiliar surroundings, patients may be at an increased risk of falling during an inpatient hospital stay. In rare cases, a fall and its consequences can have serious consequences for the rest of the patient's life, especially for older people. For this reason, assessing the risk of falling, combined with targeted measures to prevent falls (if there is an increased risk), is an important routine procedure for every inpatient at our hospital:
- Every inpatient receives a clinical assessment of the risk of falling
- If there is an increased risk, measures are taken to prevent falls (examples):
- Information about increased risk of falling
- Measures at the bedside and in the room
- Mobility aids (rollator, walking stick, ...)
- Review of medication
- Strength and balance training
Bedridden/mobility-restricted patients in hospital have an increased risk of developing pressure sores (also known as bedsores). Pressure ulcers can lead to significant restrictions in health and quality of life for those affected, which is why their development must be decisively prevented. The effective prevention of pressure sores is therefore a core task in our care.
The risk of pressure ulcers is regularly assessed clinically for our inpatients; if there is an increased risk, the following measures are taken to prevent them:
- Movement and positioning techniques that are gentle on the skin and tissue
- Pressure-distributing aids (special mattresses, pillows, positioning aids)
- Increasing the patient's mobility
- Promoting the patient's own mobility
Clinical risk management
The central goal of clinical risk management at the University Medical Center Freiburg is to maintain and continuously improve patient safety in the hospital.
With the entry into force of the new official quality management guideline (Joint Federal Committee of Health Insurance Funds, Hospitals and Physicians), the requirements for clinical risk management in hospitals have been further increased and made mandatory.
Clinical risk management essentially involves dealing with potential risks in patient treatment and avoiding errors and adverse events by continuously establishing a safety culture. Critical and adverse events in the entire patient treatment environment are to be systematically analyzed in order to derive measures to manage and avoid such events.
Some important projects and areas of our clinical risk management have already been listed in connection with patient safety.
In addition to the preventive measures mentioned, other methods are also used as part of clinical risk management in order to minimize risks for our patients.
The systematic handling of errors or potential errors is an important part of clinical risk management at the University Medical Center Freiburg. After analyzing adverse events, including those from cross-institutional error reporting systems, improvements are to be introduced into clinical practice.
Adverse events or 'near misses' can be reported anonymously by all employees to the CIRS ('Critical Incident Reporting System'). The cases are analyzed both centrally and decentrally in the responsible departments, including the implementation of improvement measures. In addition to the analysis at Freiburg University Medical Center, the anonymous data is also shared across the hospital in so-called CIRS networks. This provides the opportunity for joint learning, with the involvement of recognized experts from multiple institutions.
In so-called mortality and morbidity conferences, adverse treatment events in various areas are systematically analyzed and discussed across professional groups.
The aim of these important conferences is to identify the causes of adverse events and to define specific changes to the process in order to improve the quality of treatment and patient safety in the future.
In order to systematically identify potential sources of error, a process analysis is carried out as part of a risk audit by means of an on-site inspection, in which specific questions are asked about risks and strategies for avoiding them.
Together with the audited area, a risk analysis and, if necessary, appropriate action plans to reduce the risks are then drawn up in accordance with a structured procedure.
Governance, quality and sustainability
Staff Unit at the Hospital Management Board
Breisacher Straße 153
79110 Freiburg
Head of Staff Unit
Robert Rilk
Phone: 0761 270-21062
qualitaet(at)uniklinik-freiburg.de