Patient safety is an integral factor when it comes to quality healthcare services. Where medical tourism and providing world-class healthcare to international patients is concerned, strict adherence to patient safety standards becomes even more important because of language, culture and lifestyle differences. 

The Indian Health Ministry, along with healthcare sector regulators and accreditation bodies, has established a strong quality control mechanism to monitor, evaluate, regulate, and accredit hospitals, diagnostic centers, and healthcare facilities in India. 

Along with it, top Indian hospitals also get certified by Joint Commission International (JCI), Global Healthcare Accreditation (GHA) and other globally accepted accreditation standards. So, if you are looking to avail treatments in any of the best orthopedic hospitals in India, you can rest assured about the patient safety protocols.

This article discusses the quality practices and necessary protocols top hospitals in India follow to ensure patient safety and top-notch care. 

Patient safety protocols and best practices followed in top Indian hospitals

Patient safety is a top priority in leading Indian hospitals. They follow strict protocols and best practices to provide high-quality care. Here are the key safety measures they follow:

  • Safety-first culture

The best way to implement and enable the propagation of safety practices in hospitals and healthcare facilities is to establish a value system aligned with safety protocols among hospital employees. This helps ensure behavioral change among caregivers, technicians, and physicians, ultimately prioritizing patient safety. 

Be it a super-specialty tertiary care facility or the best orthopedic hospitals in India, you will witness strong employee commitment to safety standards, self-reporting of safety misses, and an inherently oriented attitude to follow safety protocols. 

  • Patient-oriented care

This is an important criterion for ensuring patient safety in the healthcare sector. Patient-centered or patient-oriented caregiving involves ensuring patients understand diagnostic results, alternative treatment plans, risks and benefits of each plan, and their costs. This leads to shared decision-making. 

Patient-oriented care empowers patients and patient families to make informed decisions and participate actively in the treatment process. It helps to overcome common cultural, behavioral, and language hurdles that may cause patient safety compromises. So, be it in a general super-specialty facility or facilities for specific treatments, like the best orthopedic hospitals in India, healthcare stakeholders strive for shared decision-making achieved via patient-oriented care.

  • Standardized care protocols

Every hospital and healthcare facility in India providing treatment to international patients follows globally accepted standardized care protocols recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines and required by JCI, GHA, and other non-profit healthcare accreditation bodies. This involves evidence-based clinical practices, proactive fault detection, risk identification and mitigation, and maintenance of electronic health records in compliance with privacy regulations. For example, any of the best orthopedic hospitals in India strictly adhere to globally accepted fall prevention protocols related to fall risk assessment, environmental safety, and mobility assistive devices.  

  • Adequate and proper staffing

Top Indian hospitals providing healthcare services to international patients always maintain adequate physicians, nursing staff, critical care personnel, and medical and non-medical employees compared to their patient intake capacity. For example, any hospital in the list of best orthopedic hospitals in India maintains a 1:2 nursing staff ratio in critical care units. The same ratio in the super specialty wards or medical-surgical units is 1:4 or fewer. This is the global standard recommended by WHO and a strict requirement, as per JCI, GHA, or similar global accreditations. Besides, these hospitals regularly train, assess, and validate the competency of caregivers and other associated healthcare service providers.  

  • Strict infection control practices 

As per the WHO observations, hospital-borne infections are a significant factor behind recurring illnesses people suffer after a hospital stay. So, top hospitals in India follow the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH) standards for national compliance and JCI standards for international compliance with infection control guidelines. This involves enforcing strict hand hygiene practices, mandatory adherence to sterilization techniques, and continuous infection surveillance. Infection surveillance primarily covers monitoring and tracking trends of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) like central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) and surgical site infections (SSIs). 

  • Medication Safety

Any of the top hospitals in India maintain strict medication safety protocols. This involves five simple steps, “The right drug for the right patient at the right dose through the right route at the right time.” Some of the critical components of medication safety protocol are: 

  • Barcoding systems
  • Medication reconciliation
  • Accurate labeling

Best orthopedic hospitals in India

Here is a list of 5 of the best orthopedic hospitals in India serving international patients successfully with orthopedic care. These healthcare facilities have the best orthopedic doctors in India in attendance. 

  • Madras Institute of Orthopedics and Traumatology (MIOT) International, Chennai
  • Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurgaon
  • Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, New Delhi
  • Medanta - The Medicity, Gurgaon
  • Max Super Speciality Hospital, Saket, New Delhi

Bottomline 

For top Indian hospitals, patient safety and quality care are non-negotiable for delivering successful healthcare services to international and domestic patients. Mandatory compliance with safety guidelines for the billion-plus Indian population makes it easier for Indian hospitals to establish a safe and quality care culture. Besides, global accreditations also ensure adherence to international safety standards.