Hidden Risks in Hospitals

Hospitals are places of care. You use them when you are ill, to be examined, to benefit from diagnostic investigations, to be treated and looked after. However, hospitals are also places where patients are exposed to risks often unknown to the general public, beyond nosocomial infections. These risks are unavoidable since there is no real choice over hospitalization. Public authorities have to develop a policy for managing these risks identified by epidemiological studies in order to minimize them. This article presents the risks most commonly found in healthcare facilities and public policy measures which are implemented to ensure the highest quality of care possible under the safest conditions.