Role of Nursing in Patient Safety

Patient safety is considered one of the central issues in the healthcare environment. The nursing profession was founded to protect, promote, and improve health for all ages of patients. Florence Nightingale, often considered the founder of modern nursing, advocated for safe patient care. Nurses are indispensable in the work to improve patient safety and quality in healthcare. Efforts to detect and remedy error-producing defects in the healthcare system are dependent on the professional nurse. This chapter will discuss the historical background of nursing and patient safety, evolution of nursing in promoting patient safety, and the essentiality of nursing to patient safety.