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Patient safety is an important issue in today's health care. This paper takes a human factor perspective to emphasize the importance of designing health care systems to account for caregiver personal characteristics and capabilities in order to compensate for individual caregiver limitations. This paper was designed to help nurses understand the impact of the human factor on patient safety. The authors hope that caregivers can use provided principles related to work systems, procedures, equipment and environments to improve patient safety and care systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to explore three main concepts related to the professional development of nursing professionals. This paper first critically reviews and reinterprets scientific evidence on the relationship between nurse staff allocation and healthcare outcomes and then challenges some of the common interpretations of this evidence in the professional literature. Secondly, in the absence of solid empirical evidence provided by sophisticated datasets in this field, we consider how Communitarianism may provide a well-defined, highly appropriate ethical framework for further developing and improving the nursing profession and healthcare outcomes. Thirdly, this article examines the role of Communitarian ethics in setting Taiwan's healthcare priorities and promotion nursing's core professional values. In conclusion, we recommend several conceptual health policy frameworks to ensure patient safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taiwan's worst hospital fire in history on October 23rd, 2012 at Sinying Hospital's Bei-Men Branch resuited in 13 elderly patient deaths and over 70 injuries. The heavy casualties were due in part to the serious condition of patients. Some patients on life-support machines were unable to move or be moved. This disaster highlights the issue of fire safety in small-scale hospitals that have transformed existing hospital space into special care environments for elderly patients. Compared with medical centers and general hospitals, these small-scale health facilities are ill equipped to deal properly with fire safety management and emergency response issues due to inadequate fire protection facilities, fire safety equipment, and human resources. Small-scale facilities that offer health care and medical services to mostly immobile patients face fire risks that differ significantly from general health care facilities. This paper focuses on fire risks in small-scale facilities and suggests a strategy for fire prevention and emergency response procedures, including countermeasures for fire risk assessment, management, and emergency response, in order to improve fire safety at these institutions in Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]