Patient safety

This manual focuses on the process of prescribing. It gives you the tools to think for yourself and not blindly follow what other people think and do. It will help you to understand why certain national or departmental standard treatment guidelines have been chosen, and teaches you how to make the best use of such guidelines.

This Kwik-Skwiz deals with the measurement of drug use patterns and prescribing behaviour and also with the structures which can be used to promote rational drug use at district level and how they can use such measurement information (indicator data). Examples from an indicator study completed in the Kalahari district of the Northern Cape are used to illustrate the use of such data.

The care and management of patients with STDs is inadequate in South Africa. The endemicity of STDs, and the synergy between STDs and HIV, makes rectification of this situation urgent. To improve and sustain the quality of STD care delivery at primary care level, it is essential that district managers are given a method of obtaining quality of care information at regular intervals.

The most important asset of the health services are the people working within it. The question is, how can we make the best use of these staff? I have visited many health facilities over the last 18 months since I have been with the Health Systems Trust. In many cases I have been exceptionally impressed by the dedication and commitment of the staff I have met. Most are working in difficult situations, many of which I would find both depressing and demoralising. I have visited health services with long queues and insufficient numbers of staff as well as inadequate supplies of drugs and equipment to provide the quality of care we would all wish for. Most staff know about the need to spend time with patients, and talk to them about their curative as well as preventative health needs. The question they put to me is, 'How do we do this when there is a whole queue of patients waiting behind the one we are with?'.