As a student nurse, I have been assigned the task of identifying patient safety concerns in adult nursing. To support my evaluation and analysis, I will gather evidence-based information from relevant literature. In addition, I will use an improvement tool to identify possible areas of improvement and to develop effective strategies to address the concerns. Patient safety is a fundamental principle that guides the provision of care and is crucial in nursing practice. As nurses, it is our responsibility to prevent harm to patients, promote their overall health and well-being, and ensure the highest level of quality care. This essay will discuss the patient safety concerns regarding pressure sores, also known as bedsores, in long-term care facilities. …show more content…
This is achieved through a systematic approach that involves understanding the healthcare environment and implementing real-time measurements to test and implement changes. Using this approach, nurses can make a positive difference in the lives of their patients (BMJ, 2020). Quality improvement is essential in healthcare to ensure that patients receive optimal care while minimising potential risks or negative outcomes. Nurses play a critical role in ensuring patient safety by using quality improvement tools to identify areas for improvement within healthcare systems. This leads to better patient outcomes and overall satisfaction. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO, 2018), quality of care is measured by how much healthcare services improve desired health outcomes for individuals and patient populations. Nursing quality encompasses various aspects, such as the principles that govern nursing practice, nurses' accountability for their work, their collaborative approach with their teams, planning and implementation of nursing care, and adherence to evidence-based protocols and procedures (The Open University, 2023). Nurses should cultivate the mindset of improvement and continue learning throughout their careers. Ultimately, achieving patient safety requires a shift in mindset, and nurses play a vital role in this endeavour (The Open
Nurses are key components in health care. Their role in today’s healthcare system goes beyond bedside care, making them the last line of defense to prevent negative patient outcomes (Sherwood & Zomorodi, 2014). As part of the interdisciplinary team, nurses have the responsibility to provide the safest care while maintaining quality. In order to meet this two healthcare system demands, the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) project defined six competencies to be used as a framework for future and current nurses (Sherwood & Zomorodi, 2014). These competencies cover all areas of nursing practice: patient-centered care, teamwork and collaboration, evidence-based practice, quality
Professional collaboration is an important aspect regarding patient safety in the medical field. This is a time when different kinds off professionals collaborate with one another about a patient’s health status and condition. “Specifically, Interprofessionality is a process by which professionals reflect on and develop ways of practicing that provides an integrated and cohesive answer to the needs of the client/family/population…(involving) continuous interaction and knowledge sharing between professionals” (Black, 2014). The collaboration of different professionals allow for a better decision to be made towards the patient’s health outcomes.
Quality improvement issues in healthcare focus on the care that patients receive and the outcomes that patients experience. Nurses play a major advocacy role for ensuring safe and quality care to all patients. Also, nurses share the responsibility in leading the efforts in improving patient care in all settings (Berwick, 2002). One of the ongoing problems plaguing hospitals and nursing homes is the development of new pressure ulcers in patients after admission. A pressure ulcer can be defined as a localized area of necrotic tissue that is likely to occur after soft tissue is compressed between a bony prominence and a surface for prolonged periods of time (Andrychuk, 1998). According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, patients should never develop pressure ulcers while under the supervision of any medical institution because they are totally preventable (Berwick, 2002). The purpose of this paper is to discuss the problems associated with pressure ulcers, examine the progress on improving this specific issue, and explain the Plan, Do, Study, Act cycle that I would use to improve patient care in this area.
Introduction The Patient Safety Plan is a program that provides a systematic, coordinated and continuous methodology to the upkeep and upgrading of safety through the founding of mechanisms that support effective responses to definite incidences in an organization work environment. It is also the incorporation of patient safety main concern into new strategy in an organizational functions and services which would lead to continuous positive decrease of risk in the work environment. Patient safety plan is used as a guide to approach optimum safety objectives which involves different departments and disciplines in creating plans, processes and devices that contain the patient care safety activities in a hospital setting (Main Line Health Inc,
Patient safety one of the driving forces of healthcare. Patient safety is defined as, “ the absence of preventable harm to a patient during the process of healthcare or as the prevention of errors and adverse events caused by the provision of healthcare rather than the patient’s underlying disease process. (Kangasniemi, Vaismoradi, Jasper, &Turunen, 2013)”. It was just as important in the past as it is day. Our healthcare field continues to strive to make improvement toward safer care for patients across the country.
The overall goal for the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) plan is to meet the challenge of educating and preparing future nurses to have the knowledge, skills and attitudes that are essential to frequently progress the quality and safety of the healthcare systems in the continuous improvement of safe practice (QSEN, 2014).Safety reduces the possibility of injury to patients and nurses. It is achieved through system efficiency and individual work performance. Organizations determine which technologies have an effective protocol with efficient practices to support quality and safety care. Guidelines are followed to reduce potential risks of harm to nurses or others. Appropriate policies
Quality improvement (QI) involves the regular and constant actions that enable measurable improvement in health care. QI results in enhanced health services, organizational efficiency, quality and safe care to patients, and desired health outcomes for individuals and patient populations (U. S. Department of Health and Human Service, 2011). A successful quality improvement program is patient-centered, a collaboration of teams, and uses data in systems. QI helps to develop a culture of excellence in nursing, identify and prioritize areas of improvement, promote communication and collaboration, collect and analyze data, and encourage continuous evaluation of systems and processes (American Academy
Keeping patients safe is essential in today’s health care system, but patient safety events that violate that safety are increasing each year. It was only recently, that the focus on patient safety was reinforced by a report prepared by Institute of medicine (IOM) entitled ” To err is human, building a safer health system”(Wakefield & Iliffe,2002).This report found that approx-imately 44,000 to 98,000 deaths occur each year due to medical errors and that the majority was preventable. Deaths due to medical errors exceed deaths due to many other causes such as like HIV infections, breast cancer and even traffic accidents (Wakefield & Iliffe, 2002). After this IOM reports, President Clinton established quality interagency coordination task force with the help of government agencies. These government agencies are responsible for making health pol-icies regarding patient safety to which every HCO must follow (Schulman & Kim, 2000).
Mitchell, P. H. (2008). Defining patient safety and quality care an evidence-based handbook for nurses. Rockville,Maryland: Hughes. DOI: //www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2681/
Maintenance and promotion of quality improvement initiatives are essential for the successful growth and development of the health care industry. Nurses are key to all quality improvement initiatives as they are in the frontlines and have the most contact with the healthcare consumers. Therefore, nursing professionals are good at putting in their valuable inputs for quality improvement efforts. On a daily basis nursing professionals strive to deliver safe, efficient, effective, patient-centered care in a timely manner. With the growth and development in the health care industry, there is an increased need to provide competent and high quality services. Nurses are equipped with distinctive proficiency required for delivery of patient care
Patients in health institutions not only need a comfortable environment, but they also require safe and quality nursing care. Indeed, research has shown that improved nursing quality has several health benefits to the patient. According to the American nurses association (2014), quality nursing care is the provision of an outstanding and efficient service to the patients. Safe and quality care can be accorded through employing of qualified staff, proper motivation of nurses, staff knowledge development, and also proper co-ordination and management of the nurses in the institution (Hoeman, 2002). In addition, the use of process and outcome data could be essential in the enhancement of safe and quality
“Leaders are essential to developing a safety environment, but all healthcare staff are responsible to practice safety” (Paradiso,2018). In a hospital setting there are many things that could go wrong if the healthcare workers are not vigilant or continuously double checking for any possible errors. Errors can happen in many places of the hospital, and it ranges from medication errors, surgical errors, contamination errors, falls, ulcers, etc. These are events that should never happen, but due to human errors and other causes we have an increased number of hospital “Never Events”. Never events are list of serious medical errors and adverse effects that should never happen to a patient in the hospital.
On my first day of clinical at the General Hospital, I was placed in a group. The group consists of eight (8) persons (including myself). We were placed in the female medical ward. Our preceptor Nurse Williams introduced and welcomed us to the nursing field. During this induction, I was given a paper which contained a list of items that I had to identify and locate in the ward.
Patient safety is the prevention of harm resulting from errors leading to adverse events. Therefore, it becomes essential to develop a sense of safety, that may as well be common to all participating in patient care; an interdisciplinary approach to safety that ensure the common interest regarding this issue and its prevention, and for the attainment of a safe environment within an institution. Likewise, Mitchell, (2008), explains that patient safety was defined by the IOM as “the prevention of harm to patients.” Moreover, patient safety is now recognized in many countries, with global awareness fostered by the World Health Organization’s World Alliance for Patient Safety (Emanuel et. al., 2008).
1.1 Background In high hazard industries, errors and accidents may lead to terrible outcomes. Patient safety is an important public health issue worldwide. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a person on an airplane has 1 in 1,000,000 chances of being harmed, whereas, a patient has a 1 in 300 chances of being harmed in a healthcare facility. A hospitalized patient has a 14% chance of developing an infection, which may be prevented with an extra precaution and appropriate hygiene.