South Rand Hospital celebrates Patient Safety Awareness Week and Pharmacy Month

South Rand Hospital had a double celebration on September 28 when they commemorated Patient Safety Awareness Week and Pharmacy Month.

Pharmacy Month is a special opportunity to highlight the profession of pharmacists, bringing together pharmacists from various fields to explain to the public the importance of the profession in delivering high-quality healthcare.

This year’s South Rand theme was ‘the colour orange’ to represent the different characteristics associated with patients such as health, happiness, excitement, warmth, sun, success, inspiration, change, courage, stimulation, fun, enjoyment, balance, freedom, expression, and interest.

The goal of every year’s Patient Safety Awareness Week is to raise awareness of patient safety and inspire people to learn more about it to improve the safety of the healthcare system for patients and employees, both locally and globally.

The quality assurance manager of South Rand Hospital, Sharoll Dinkebogile, told the Southern Courier that this is an important day for them as a medical institution because they get to teach their patients about the medication they are supposed to get and how to use it accordingly.

According to Sharoll, patients should follow three steps every time they collect their medication, and that is to know the medication they are supposed to get, check if they are given the correct medication as prescribed by a doctor and ask if they have questions regarding the given medication by a pharmacist.

“We regard our patients as members of our team. Teamwork is essential because it enables you to share ideas and duties, which lowers everyone’s stress levels and enables everyone to be diligent and thorough in task completion. After all, pharmacists and patients have a common goal in the end,” said Sharoll.

Pharmacists taught patients about the importance of reporting every allergy to a medical practitioner as it plays a bigger role in prescribing the type of medication that should be handed over to a client.

“It depends on a patient to quicken the process of healing after being given the medication by a pharmacist or a doctor. It is always important to enquire about the prescribed medication to avoid being exposed to more illnesses due to taking incorrect medication or incorrectly taking the medication itself,” said South Rand Hospital pharmacist Thabiso Phoka.

This day was a designated period and forum for raising awareness of patient safety and appreciating the work that has previously been done in this area.

Patients were later given fruit packages to promote healthy living while taking their medication, especially patients with chronic diseases.