MUSCAT: Rapid pace of vaccinations and lockdowns have started yielding results as there is a steady decline in Covid-19 cases and fall in number of hospitalisations. Some governorates, including South and North Al Sharqiyah, Al Wusta and South Al Batinah did not report any coronavirus-related deaths so far this month.
The number of inpatients are down to 1.4 per cent across all government and private health institutions.
As many as 67 new cases of coronavirus were registered in the Sultanate on Tuesday, in addition to 3 new deaths.
This brings the total number of positive Covid-19 cases to 302,815 in the Sultanate.
The total number of deaths reached 4,081, the Ministry of Health said.
The ministry added that 94 new cases have recovered, bringing the total number to 292,816 recoveries. The recovery rate is 96.7 per cent
The ministry also pointed out that 8 were hospitalised over the past 24 hours. The total number of hospitalised patients stands at 85, of them 36 are in intensive care units (ICUs).
According to the latest figures on the spread of Covid-19 in the governorates, September is witnessing a noticeable improvement in health indicators. The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in all governorates over the past six days was 355 and 10 deaths.
PATIENT SAFETY SURVEY
The Ministry of Health, represented by the Directorate General of Quality Assurance Centre, on Tuesday launched a national patient safety culture survey among healthcare workers and employees in health institutions.
With an aim to improve the quality of health services in the Sultanate, the national survey is conducted to determine the patient safety culture among health sector workers, and reveal the aspects that require development and progress regarding the patient safety culture.
The survey targets health workers of various medical, para-medical, and administrative staff to raise their awareness on the patient safety, assess the status of the patient safety culture among healthcare workers, and identify strengths and areas for patient safety culture improvement, in addition to evaluating improvement-oriented action plans.
The survey is an online questionnaire which focuses on six key aspects, including teamwork, administrative support, communication, adverse events reporting, patient safety, and information delivery.
Dr Qamra al Sariri, the centre’s DG, said that a number of studies have unveiled a connection between a positive safety culture and healthcare service such as reduced infection rates, fewer readmissions, better surgical outcomes, reduced adverse events, and decreased mortality.
“It is important to assess the level of patient safety culture among healthcare workers as it helps in determining strength areas of improvement to be studied and analyzed. Consequently, the necessary improvements and recommendations will be taken to ensure a positive patient safety culture in line with international standards”, she added.
It should be noted that the inauguration of the national survey comes as part of September activities; the month that the Sultanate dedicates as an annual national awareness patient safety. (With ONA inputs)
