Patient Safety and the Development of Information Technology
The lack of awareness nurses have in medical errors both small and large that occur daily in health care systems are staggering. The report by Bogner (2009) indicated that there has been no real progress in the reductions of process errors; however, the development of truly integrated electronic medical records was in its infancy prior to 2009. There have been many changes in the delivery of care over the last 16 years since the publication of the Institute of Medicine report on “To Err is Human”. The push for electronic medical records and physician order entry has enabled providers to instantly access medical histories, read reports and share knowledge throughout the continuum of care (Finkelman & Kenner, 2012).
For nurses, the barcode technology has made the medication
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Using the information on failures in health care systems will be the key to developing a safer environment for patients and nurses who provide that care. Information technology departments within health care systems process incident reports and are charged with finding common denominators in the process failure with the intention of improving patient care. Bogner (2009) stated that developing a new approach focusing on system vulnerabilities could be the answer.
Using Quality Chasm to Improve Patient Safety
Mary Wakefield (2008) found that advancing the care and safety of patients requires a buy in by all facets of the health care system. Every department needs to be on board with quality improvements (p. 11). Dietary ensuring that diabetic patients receive appropriate meals, renal patients on fluid restrictions or physicians placing appropriate orders to physical therapists can participate in improving the health status are all part of improving health
During the 1980’s and 90’s there were many studies done that showed that medical errors were occurring in inpatient and outpatient settings at a very high rate. Computer Provider Order Entry (CPOE) systems were designed to reduce or eliminate mistakes made by using hand written orders. The CPOE system allows users to directly enter their orders into the system on computers which are then sent directly to the healthcare providers that will be implementing the orders. Previously orders were placed by writing on order sheets on patient charts. This was sometimes done by the doctor or by a nurse acting on behalf of the doctor. Order sheets were then signed by the doctor and then the information was input into the patient’s record. This left room for error due to misreading bad handwriting, confusing medications with similar names, etc.
Nurses were the professional group who most often reported medication errors and older patients were those most often affected in the medication errors reports analyzed for this study (Friend, 2011). Medication error type’s revealed omitted medicine or dose, wrong dose, strength or frequency and wrong documentation were the most common problems at Site A where the traditional pen and paper methods of prescription were used; and wrong documentation and omission were the most common problems associated with medication errors at Site B where the electronic MMS was introduced (Friend, 2011). Reports of problems such as wrong drug, wrong dose, strength or frequency, quantity, wrong route, wrong drug and omitted dose were less frequent at Site B (Friend, 2011). The reduced incidence of omission errors at Site B supports suggestions that an advantage of the MMS is easy identification of patient requirements at each drug round time slot. Despite the finding of less omission errors at site B where the MMS had been introduced, there was a relatively high frequency in the incident reports of medication errors related to both omission and wrong dose, strength and frequency at both sites (Friend, 2011).
The Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN’s) goal is to prepare future nurses with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs) that are needed to continuously improve the quality and safety of the healthcare systems within which they work. QSEN focuses on six main competencies; patient-centered care, teamwork and collaboration, evidence-based practice, quality improvement, safety, and informatics. As we have learned in earlier classes these competencies and their KSAs offer a base to help us and other nurses as we continue our education and become RNs. As we will learn in this class these KSAs go hand in hand with health assessment.
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,
Medication errors made by medical staff bring about consequences of epidemic proportions. Medical staff includes everyone from providers (medical doctors, nurse practitioners and physician assistants) to pharmacists to nurses (registered and practical). Medication errors account for almost 98,000 deaths in the United States yearly (Tzeng, Yin, & Schneider, 2013). This number only reflects the United States, a small percentage in actuality when looking at the whole world. Medical personnel must take responsibility for their actions and with this responsibility comes accountability in their duties of medication administration. Nurses play a major role in medication error prevention and education and this role distinguishes them as reporters of errors.
According to Grober and Bohnen (2005), “Medical error can be defined as, “an act of omission or commission in planning or execution that contributes Nurses are expected to provide a competent level of care that is indicative of their education, experience, skill, and ability to act on agency policies or procedures. In a study of 1,116 hospitals Bond, Raehl, and Franke (2001) found, “Medication errors occurred in 5.07% of the patients admitted each year to these hospitals. Each hospital experienced a medication error every 22.7 hours (every 19.73 admissions). Medication errors that adversely affected patient care outcomes occurred in 0.25% of all patients admitted to these hospitals/year”(p. 4). This means at least one medication error occurs every 24 hours in those facilities studied, and these are preventable errors.
In nursing practice, the safety competency is all about doing no harm to the patient and provider often by following the right procedures and monitoring the system’s performance for efficiency, as well as ensuring peak individual performance amongst the practitioners and their support systems. Integrating safety into the nursing practice, education and research is paramount to the effectiveness of the profession in so many ways as will be discussed in this paper. But before that, it is necessary to consider the knowledge, skills and attitudes that are related to this particular competence. The paper will then discuss the implications of integration with respect to the working environment.
When a person chooses to become a nurse they make a moral commitment to care for all patients. This commitment cannot be taken lightly, as stated in the Code of Ethics for Nurses “The nurse respects the worth, dignity, and rights of all human beings irrespective of the nature of the health problem” (American Nurses Association, 2001, 7). Therefore, three ethical considerations that impact the safe practice of nursing will be explored in further details. These ethical considerations include substance use disorder in the workplace, professional boundaries, and the use of social media. Since Florence Nightingale’s era, nurses have been faced with various stresses. The goal is that nurses will be safe practitioners respecting
Working as a nurse, patient care associate, or any other health care professional is not an easy job. Nursing profession has the highest rate of back and other injuries related to lifting, moving and transporting patients. Hospitals and other nursing facilities were experiencing increased numbers of injuries, which meant many lost work days, worker’s compensation costs and patient safety at risk.
Patient safety is fundamental to quality health and nursing care. This nurse leader believes that the health care workers have a great role to improve patient safety. Infection control, safe handling and administration of medications, safe handling of equipments, safe clinical practice and safe environment of care are included in patient safety. Proper training and education are vital ingredients of development of patient safety. This nurse leader is an advocate in all aspects of patient care. Nurses have to inform the patients, the plan of care, explain the treatment and its options, notify the adverse effects on time through the appropriate channel or requirement of the facility ("Patient Safety," 2002, p. 1).
Electronic medical records not only effect health care professionals, but the patients of those health care providers as well. However, nurses spend the most time directly using electronic medical records to access patient date and chart. Nurses now learn to chart, record data, and interact with other health care providers electronically. Many assume that electronic means efficient, and the stories of many nurses both agree, and disagree. Myra Davis-Alston, a nurse from Las Vegas, NV, says that she “[likes] the immediate access to patient progress notes from all care providers, and the ability to review cumulative lab values and radiology reports” (Eisenberg, 2010, p. 9). This form of record keeping provides health care professionals with convenient access to patient notes, vital signs, and test results from multiple providers comprised into one central location. They also have the ability to make patients more involved in their own care (Ross, 2009). With the advancement in efficiency, also comes the reduction of costs by not printing countless paper records, and in turn, lowers health care
Over the past decade, technological advances have paved the way for nurses to provide, quality, safe, standardized and individualized patient care (Saba & McCormick, 2015). The use of the Electronic Health Records (EHR) to manage patient data is quickly becoming widespread in the healthcare industry. The emerging use of the Electronic Health Record, is transforming how nurses care for patients. By creating and implementing an electronic, comprehensive, standardized method of recording patient data, nurses can facilitate and coordinate patient care with members of the multidisciplinary healthcare team. The use of the Electronic Health Record will promote positive
Medical errors can happen in the healthcare system such as hospitals, outpatient clinics, operating rooms, doctor’s offices, pharmacies, patients’ homes and anywhere in the healthcare system where patients are being treated. These errors consist of diagnostic, treatment, medicine, surgical, equipment calibration, and lab report error. Furthermore, communication problems between doctors and patients, miscommunication among healthcare staff and complex health care systems are playing important role in medical errors. We need to look for a solution which starts changes from physicians, nurses, pharmacists, patients, hospitals, and government agencies. In this paper I will discuss how does the problem of medical errors affect our healthcare delivery system? Also how can these medical errors be prevented and reduced?
Technology is stated as the scientific method and material used to achieve a commercial or industrial objective. To go one step further, nursing technology is using a tool to advance nursing practice. “The Institute of medicine identified that technology as a viable method of enhancing patient care delivery and improving staff productivity” Sensmeier, Horowitz (2003 page). Because inadequate nursing staff causes shortcuts to be taken, there are mistakes made that could have possibly been prevented. Errors by nursing staff were variously reported as being responsible for between 44,000 and 98,000 hospital deaths per year. Sensmeier, Horowitz (2003). Technology can have a large impact on nursing. In the past 5 to 10 years, computerized patient records have increased less than 10%. This number shows us that we are still not embracing technology to its full potential. Today in most hospital systems computerized electronic charting is being used. Many hospitals have many different systems for...
The term ‘occupational health and safety’ (often abbreviated to OHS), is used describe work practices that will keep employees safe. The absence of OHS can be detrimental to a company and its workers alike, as there is a high risk of serious injury. Safety on many worksites must be the top priority for any corporation. Though at our walk-around of Juggernaut Industries, we noticed it wasn’t monitored at all. The following is a list of possible effects and laws that will remind you of the consequences.