---

Hospitals are committed to develop a positive health and safety culture where the inherent risks in health care provision are controlled and reduced through the involvement and commitment of all staff in delivering a quality service. It must be the policy of a hospital to do all that is reasonably practicable to prevent personal injury, damage to property, harm to the environment or any other form of harm or loss to staff, patients or others in the hospital.The challenge of quality is founded on the basic principle of reducing the number of errors, providing safety to the patients and staff which is still a great challenge for health care. This study is an assessment of the existing profile of patient and staff safety in a tertiary care hospital in India and a comparison with existing standards and guidelines for such safety. This would help hospital administrators, planners, personnel managers, and other staff identify shortcomings in implementing safety standards and help them take appropriate action to overcome them.

---

Dr Deepthi R. has completed her graduate degree in dentistry from SDM College of Dental Sciences in Dharwad, India in 2005. She then pursued a postgraduate diploma in hospital management from IHMR, Bangalore in 2008. This work summarizes an assessment of implementation of patient and staff safety standards at a tertiary care hospital in India.

---