Healthcare organizations, and providers who work within them, put significant effort in striving to achieve a culture of patient safety. The concept of “safety” is somewhat of an umbrella term insofar as different types of safety exist: physical safety, psychological safety, and cultural safety are just three examples. When thinking about physical safety in particular, there are countless ways in which this is prioritized and practiced. For instance, many, if not most, healthcare organizations strive to achieve “zero falls” within their spaces. To this end, healthcare providers adhere to calculated protocols to decrease medication errors and evidence-based strategies are followed so that pressure injuries are prevented.
The prioritization of patient safety goes part and parcel with the bioethical principle of non-maleficence, which is the idea that we (healthcare providers) ought to prevent patients from experiencing harm. In other words, if we ought to prevent people from experiencing harm, then it seems essential to promote patient safety.