Quality and Patient Safety
In HUS, we invest heavily in the quality of our activities. Our goal is the continuous improvement of patient care. We draw up an annual quality and patient safety plan, the implementation of which is monitored by the HUS Executive Board. Our patient safety is based on continuous development of our activities.
Annual Plans and Reports
We publish every year a Quality and Patient Safety Plan and Report and statistics of Haipro notifications on quality and patient safety.
Quality and Patient Safety Plans and Reports are available only in Finnish.
Statistics of Haipro notifications on quality and patient safety is available only in Finnish.
HUS Quality Registers and Persons in Charge
The list is available only in Finnish.
Magnet Hospital
In HUS, we are part of the international Magnet Hospital© project. The Magnet Hospital recognition requires evidence of excellent nursing work.
The Magnet Hospital recognition is awarded by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) upon application and on the basis of a thorough audit. The Magnet Hospital originated in America in the 1980s with the aim of attracting and retaining nurses in employment relationships like a magnet.
For example, approximately 8% of hospitals in the United States have been awarded the recognition. When comparing the results of Magnet hospitals with other hospitals, they have been found to be better at patient satisfaction and safety, quality of care, retaining nurses in their workplaces, job satisfaction and safety at work, and cooperation in teams and between different occupational groups.
The Comprehensive Cancer Center was awarded the Magnet Hospital recognition in March 2024. The Heart and Lung Center, Children and Adolescents, and Psychiatry are applying for Magnet Hospital recognition.
Link: ANCC Magnet Recognition Program®.
We encourage nurses to participate in the continuous development of their work and in the decision-making process of nursing through good management. We support the professional development of our nurses through further training. We ensure that our nursing methods are based on the latest research data. We measure the results of the quality of patient care as well as patient and nurse satisfaction on a regular basis. The results in HUS have been better than average for a long time.
We have also set up multiprofessional expert groups in HUS at different levels of our organization. The task of the groups is to actively resolve any problems that have arisen in the practice of nursing and to support and promote the embedding of uniform practices in patient care.
Patient Safety
Patient safety is an integral part of quality. In HUS, we invest in safe patient care, high quality of care, and patient focus. Our goal is that the treatment or treatment environment will not cause the patient any danger or harm. Adverse events may include treatment-related infections, incorrect or delayed diagnosis, or a medication error.
All our employees involved in patient care complete an online patient safety training. We also analyze the patient and customer feedback we receive and adapt our activities based on the feedback.
If you want to know more about your rights as a patient, you can contact our patient ombudspersons.
We are committed to infection safety in HUS. The fight against treatment-related infections and extremely drug-resistant microbes is an essential part of the quality of our care and patient safety. All our hospitals have personnel specializing in infection control, who instruct and train other personnel in infection safety.
The more severe the disease being treated, the higher the risk of treatment-related infection. For example, there is an approximately ten-fold risk of developing a treatment-related infection in intensive care compared to regular inpatient care. Between 5% and 15% of patients develop a treatment-related infection. The most common treatment-related infections are infections in the surgical site, urinary tract infections, pneumonia, and generalized infections.
Our employees follow policies to combat treatment-related infections and drug-resistant microbes. We invest in good hand hygiene, appropriate protective equipment, and the proper use of antimicrobials. We also prevent the spread of seasonal influenza through staff vaccinations.
More information: Health Village: Infection Hub (Terveyskylä online service; content available in Finnish and Swedish)
Drug safety is related to the pharmaceutical product and its effects, the high-quality manufacturing of the medicine, the clear name and packaging, and the information written about the medicine. Before a new medicine is given marketing authorization, its efficacy and safety will be tested. The medicine is also monitored after entering the market. The product safety of pharmaceutical products is supervised by the Finnish Medicines Agency Fimea.
Medication safety is safety related to the use of medicines and the implementation of pharmacotherapy.
Sometimes there are human errors in medical treatment. We report errors in our hospitals and record errors in patient data. We analyze reported occurrences and continuously develop our processes to be safer. We will immediately inform the patient of any harmful deviations and errors.
In HUS, we are committed to safe medical treatment, and the development of medication safety is coordinated by a Medication Safety Coordinator. Our goal is to secure the correct and compatible medicine for the right patient, at the right time, with the right dose and method of administration, and with the right medical advice.
We have devised HUS- and unit-specific pharmacotherapy plans in order to ensure consistent and safe drug treatment. We have identified organization-specific high-risk medicines and are increasing expertise associated with them through online training. We ensure the medical expertise of medical personnel, for example, through medical-calculation and competency-based exams. Drug safety is also promoted through audits and ward pharmacists and clinic senior pharmacists.
Our goal is to establish an uninterrupted drug treatment process: we are verifying the identity of the hospitalized patient and the correctness of his or her medication increasingly more often using the patient bracelet and the bar code and QR codes on the medicine packages. In the correct and safe storage, distribution, manufacture and preparation for use of medicines, we are increasingly utilizing automation and robotics.
More information: Health Village: Pharmaceutical Hub (Terveyskylä online service; content available in Finnish and Swedish)
In HUS, we use medical devices that meet the European quality standards for patient care. Our personnel is familiar with the safe use of equipment. We monitor incidents related to medical devices in HUS and actively work together with device manufacturers and supervisory authorities to resolve detected errors or deficiencies.
Our internal reporting channels
We use various internal reporting channels through which our personnel can report adverse events, safety-related observations, or misconduct. We also have a channel where our personnel can report successes.
Our staff can report patient safety incidents through the HaiPro channel. A HaiPro notification is made when an event or near miss causing harm to the patient has been detected. HaiPro notifications can also be submitted for other observations related to patient safety.
Patients can also report any adverse events or safety incidents they observe during their care.
Through the HUS Risks system, our personnel can report observations or incidents related to the safety of personnel or the organization. It is used for reporting, for example, occupational accidents, situations involving a threat, medical device incidents, safety observations, and data breaches.
Our personnel use the First Whistle channel for reporting serious misconduct referred to in the Act on the Protection of Whistleblowers.
The Act on the Protection of Whistleblowers protects a person who reports breaches of EU or national law in certain areas of law that have come to light in the course of their work (“whistleblower”). There is no legal obligation to make such reports, but reporting misconduct is important in order to prevent threats and serious harm to public interest.
PosiPro is a channel where our personnel can report a colleague’s success or successful situations and practices related to patient care and patient safety. With the PosiPro system, we collect information on successes and analyze the factors leading to success. In this way, we can learn from our successes and extend our awareness of best practices.
Our quality indicators
For January through October 2023, the NPS for emergency departments and psychiatry was 58. For treatment units, NPS was 83.
The following three quality indicators are commonly monitored in top hospitals around the world:
| Duration of treatment | 3.5 days |
| Readmission rate | 2,1% |
| Mortality rate | 2,3% |
We update the table once a month. Date period to which the figures relate: treatment period February 2024, readmission and mortality rate January 2024.
What do the figures mean?
- We measure customer satisfaction with an international Net Promoter Score (NPS). The NPS result can be anything between -100 and +100. We measure NPS by asking the question: "How likely are you to recommend the service you received to your friends or family if they were in a similar situation?”
- The indicator for the duration of the treatment period describes the average duration of the inpatient stay on a hospital ward. Psychiatric treatment periods are not included in this indicator.
- Readmission refers to a patient’s unplanned visit again for the same reason within 30 days of their discharge. The readmission rate indicates how many of the inpatient treatment periods have led to such an unplanned visit.
- The mortality rate shows the proportion of patients who have died within 30 days of the start of their inpatient treatment period, whether the patient was hospitalized or discharged at the time of death.