Patients’ Safety in Bangladesh: Prospects for Social Work Practice

Abstract

Patient safety refers to preventing medical errors and detrimental effects on patients. As human beings, health care professionals are also bound to make mistakes that can harm the patient, but the number of errors can be decreased. Patient safety can be perceived as a framework that can scale down the prevalence of harm and mistakes and lessen the potential risks. It is inevitable to ensure high-quality health care services. Patient safety is considered a top priority because a tiny error of health care providers can harm the patient, or the consequences can be even more enormous. Nowadays, globally it is becoming a matter of grave concern. It is a significant public health issue worldwide, and a comprehensive solution is needed to this problem. In Bangladesh, a considerable number of people fail to get access to primary health services. Besides, the performance of the health care sector is abysmal. Masses are losing faith in public as well as private medical services. Therefore, an updated health care delivery system is needed to prevent medical errors and ensure patient safety in Bangladesh. The main objective of this study is to explore the factors associated with patient safety in Bangladesh. This study also aims to improve patient-centred care and identify how social work knowledge and skills may be applied to ensure patient safety in Bangladesh. This review article is based on data obtained from various secondary sources like books, articles, and reports. This study has identified distinct factors affecting patient safety and patient-centred care in the context of Bangladesh. The study proposes that social workers themselves can shoulder the responsibility to ensure overall patient safety and patient-centred care in the medical sector in Bangladesh.