# Patient Safety Goals > Nursing notes on patient safety goals for nursing exams: patient identification, SBAR communication, high-alert drugs, surgery checks and fall prevention. - Canonical URL: https://prepelephant.com/topics/allied/nursing/patient-safety-goals - Exam / course: Allied Health · Subject: Nursing - Publisher: PrepElephant (https://prepelephant.com) — Prepared and reviewed by the PrepElephant Academic Review Team - First published: 2026-10-02 - Last updated: 2026-10-02 - How to cite: "Patient Safety Goals", PrepElephant, https://prepelephant.com/topics/allied/nursing/patient-safety-goals ## Direct answer Patient safety goals are internationally agreed priorities that guide hospitals in preventing avoidable harm — best known through the International Patient Safety Goals used in accreditation and the WHO's global patient safety work. The core six are accurate patient identification, effective communication, safe use of high-alert medications, correct-site and correct-procedure surgery, reduction of health-care-associated infections and reduction of patient falls. Nurses operationalise every one at the bedside, which makes the topic high-yield in university and recruitment examinations alike. ## What you must remember - Identify patients with at least two identifiers — full name plus a unique hospital number or date of birth — before medications, blood, food or procedures; room or bed numbers are never identifiers. - Improve communication: use SBAR for handover, read back verbal and telephone orders, and report critical results promptly to the right person. - High-alert medications — concentrated electrolytes (especially potassium chloride), insulin, anticoagulants, narcotics — need double checks, standardised concentrations and separation of look-alike, sound-alike drugs. - Ensure correct-site surgery through the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist: sign in before induction, time out before incision confirming site marking, sign out before leaving theatre. - Reduce health-care-associated infections with hand hygiene and insertion and maintenance bundles for catheter-associated urinary infection, central line infection and ventilator-associated pneumonia. - Reduce falls through risk assessment on admission (commonly the Morse Fall Scale), call bell within reach, bed low and locked, non-slip footwear, good lighting, hourly rounding and assisted toileting. - Support a reporting culture in which errors and near misses are reported without blame so systems improve, and involve patients and families in their own care. ## Common confusion Two identifiers do not include the bed number or the diagnosis — a favourite trap option. The checklist phases get shuffled: sign in before induction, time out immediately before incision, sign out before the patient leaves theatre. Students confuse fall prevention with restraints — restraints are a last resort requiring an order and review, never routine. Finally, near misses are reported even without harm, because they reveal the same system weaknesses as actual errors. ## Exam-focused takeaway Learn the six goals verbatim with one nursing action each, since questions quote a scenario and ask which goal it serves — name-checking before transfusion (identification), read-back of a telephone order (communication), double-checking insulin (high-alert drugs), site marking (surgery), hand hygiene before catheter care (infection) and answering the call bell promptly (falls). The checklist phases and the Morse scale name are frequently tested, and incident stems expect documentation and notification without blame in the record. ## Frequently asked questions ### What are the International Patient Safety Goals? Accurate patient identification, effective communication, safe use of high-alert medications, correct-site surgery, reduction of health-care-associated infections and reduction of falls. ### How must a patient be identified before a procedure? Using at least two identifiers such as full name and unique identification number, actively confirmed with the patient — never the bed or room number. ### What are high-alert medications? Drugs carrying heightened risk of major harm in error — insulin, anticoagulants, concentrated potassium and narcotics — needing double checks and standardised handling. ### What are the three phases of the surgical safety checklist? Sign in before induction of anaesthesia, time out before incision to confirm patient, site and procedure, and sign out before leaving the operating room. ### Which scale is commonly used for fall risk assessment? The Morse Fall Scale, triggering precautions such as call bell within reach, low locked bed, non-slip footwear and assisted toileting.