Saqushal Checklist: Self-Assessment Tool For Hospital Quality Assurance

This guide to the Saqushal checklist explains how the patient safety self-assessment tool is structured, how it is scored, how a facility puts it into practice and who oversees it at each level of the public health system.

What Is the Saqushal Checklist?

SaQushal was developed with the Quality and Patient Safety Division of the National Health Systems Resource Centre (NHSRC). It sits under the National Quality Assurance Programme, alongside the National Quality Assurance Standards (NQAS), Kayakalp, LaQshya and MusQan.

The Saqushal Checklist provides public health facilities with a detailed method for assessing themselves from a patient safety perspective, building staff capacity in patient safety and involving patients and families in decisions about their care. It is also meant to set up a system for reporting adverse events and learning from them.

The tool was first planned for all district hospitals, with a phased roll-out to facilities below district level. It is designed to strengthen the existing NQAS certification process rather than replace it. Private hospitals are not its target, but they can use its checklists as a reference for their own patient safety programmes.

Read more about the NQAS checklist for quality assurance in healthcare.

Key Components Of the Saqushal Checklist

The Saqushal Checklist is organised into four areas of concern, each with four standards, for a total of sixteen standards. Each standard is broken down into measurable elements and checkpoints that assessors score. The four areas of concern are:

• A. Safe Patient Care Processes: medication safety, infection prevention and control, safe patient handling and harm prevention, and communication at transitions of care.
• B. Clinical Risk Management: safety in general clinical care, in reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health (RMNCHA) services, in speciality clinical services, and in high-risk clinical processes such as operation theatres, anaesthesia, blood transfusion and emergency care.
• C. Safe Care Environment: physical safety (structural, fire and electrical safety), hygiene and environment control, human factors and ergonomics, and support and maintenance services.
• D. Patient Safety System: leadership and governance, a reporting and learning system for adverse events, patient engagement, and a competent workforce at the point of care.

The Importance Of Saqushal Self Assessment Tool For Healthcare Facilities

The Saqushal Self Assessment Tool is a checklist-based tool. NHSRC provides print-ready checklists and a formula-fitted Excel sheet that calculates scores, so facilities can track and evaluate safety performance without complex calculations.

Here are the key benefits of using the Saqushal Checklist in healthcare facilities

• Improved Patient Safety: By identifying gaps in existing patient safety protocols, this tool helps facilities reduce medical errors and adverse events.
• Support for National Quality Standards: Many patient safety requirements of NQAS are built into the tool, so regular self-assessment helps facilities prepare for NQAS certification.
• Simple Scoring: Every checkpoint has equal weight and is scored 2 for full compliance, 1 for partial compliance and 0 for non-compliance, which keeps assessments quick and consistent.
• Data-Driven Decision Making: The score card gives an overall score plus scores by area of concern and standard, so administrators can compare departments, hospitals and states and decide where to act first.

Steps To Implement The Saqushal Checklist

A facility can put the Saqushal checklist into practice in five steps:

1. Initial Self-Assessment: Start by conducting a thorough evaluation of your current safety and quality practices.
2. Planning: The facility’s quality and patient safety team prepares an annual plan for assessments, deciding which departments to assess and when.
3. Staff Training: Train healthcare workers on how to use the Saqushal self-assessment tool effectively. Staff must understand the importance of following each component and recording data accurately for audits.
4. Regular Assessments: SaQushal envisages self-assessment of the facility twice a year, backed by peer assessment and independent review, and regular review of patient safety indicators and incident reports.
5. Continuous Improvement: The results from audits should be used to inform an ongoing improvement process, encouraging a culture of safety and learning among all staff members.

How The Saqushal Checklist Enhances Hospital Quality Assurance?

Used consistently, the checklist strengthens quality assurance in four ways:

• Identifying Areas of Weakness: The checklist helps administrators easily identify areas where safety protocols are weak or non-compliant.
• Promoting Accountability: Every department in the hospital is held accountable for meeting quality standards, ensuring that patient care is consistently high across all levels.
• Supporting Certification Efforts: Public facilities working towards NQAS certification will find the Saqushal Checklist aligned with NQAS, since it was designed to strengthen the NQAS certification process.
• Driving Patient Satisfaction: By reducing medical errors and improving the overall safety of the hospital environment, healthcare organizations can enhance patient trust and satisfaction.

Institutional Framework Of SaQushal

A strong institutional framework ensures that the SaQushal self-assessment tool is implemented and monitored efficiently:

1. National Level

At the national level, the Central Quality Supervisory Committee (CQSC), set up under the National Quality Assurance Programme, provides strategic direction for the tool. The Quality and Patient Safety Division of NHSRC prepares technical guidelines and periodically reviews and updates the tool.

2. State Level

State Quality Assurance Committees (SQACs) manage the implementation of the self-assessment tool at the state level, ensuring proper resources and regular assessments.

3. District Level

District Quality Assurance Units (DQAUs), the working arm of the District Quality Assurance Committees, are responsible for implementing SaQushal in public health facilities, mentoring facilities and reporting progress to the state.

4. Facility Level

At the facility level, the existing quality teams, renamed quality and patient safety teams, oversee SaQushal assessments, discuss safety scores in their meetings and report scores to the district and state quality assurance units.

Conclusion

The Saqushal checklist gives public health facilities a simple, scored way to find patient safety gaps, track progress twice a year and prepare for NQAS certification. Its value depends on what the facility does with the scores: the reporting and learning system and patient engagement standards matter as much as the checklist itself.

Frequently Asked Questions