Departmental managers and staff from laboratory, radiology, cardiopulmonary and nursing participated as committee members. The committee members reviewed Joint Commission National Patient Safety Goal 2 safety reports (2010), scrutinized communication processes and additional patient charts were audited for critical lab value documentation. The committee members discovered a breakdown at the point of documentation in the read back procedure. The read back procedure was being carried out, however the nurses had difficulty in consistently documenting when a report was received due to lack of computer…
As noted in the rationale for Joint Commissions’ UP.01.01.01.01- UP.01.03.01, Universal Protocols are implemented most successfully in hospitals with a culture that promotes teamwork and where all individuals feel empowered to protect patient safety. Universal Protocols are critical for Nightingale Hospital because wrong surgical procedures result in sentinel events (an unexpected occurrence involving death or serious physical or psychological injury). Sentinel events are tracked through The Joint Commission sentinel event database. Increased sentinel events would reveal poor quality of care and lack of awareness for patient safety that Nightingale hospital provides to its patients.…
(2016, December 12). Facts about the National Patient Safety Goals. Retrieved January 20, 2017, from https://www.jointcommission.org/facts_about_the_national_patient_safety_goals/.…
The purpose of the National Patient Safety Goals (NPSG) is to improve patient safety via the application of evidence based practice in areas of medical care that have been identified as high risk for resulting in patient harm (Mascioli & Carrico, 2016). The organization is extremely focused on meeting the NPSGs, however, there has not been a formal assessment of the organization’s culture of safety. The hospital focuses on the individual goals, collects data, and, based on the statistics, puts into place measures to address deficiencies. Executives within the organization are sponsors of specific NPSGs and are required to write action plans for those measures for which the hospital is not meeting the target. Dr. Farber, my preceptor, rounds…
Although brief, the article explains why patient safety is a key factor in health care. The article goes on to explain that patients can contribute to strengthening safety and delivery of high quality care.…
Their mark of accreditation has become a respected seal of approval, indicating that a particular facility or program meets a particular set of high standards. They have put forth safety goals intended to encourage nurses and other health care providers to approach potential dangers with a multifaceted plan for intervention and prevention of errors, accidents and injury. Preventing falls will be an ongoing, evolving and improving process with regard to future nursing practice. Nurses will always need to think critically and utilize the knowledge, tools and equipment available to keep patients from falling and injuring themselves. Futuristic equipment may provide a more convenient, safer, faster way to assist patient mobility. Computer health care networking may make complete health history more readily available for review and consideration. Nothing, however, can replace the critically thinking nurse. “Nurses are leading practice innovations to systematically assess patients’ risk for falls and implement population based prevention interventions.” (http://www.nursingworld.org) For this reason, The Joint Commission sets standards and safety goals to encourage those within the field of nursing to actively assess, prevent, educate and evaluate. With due diligence, such standards and safety regulations can greatly increase overall…
In order to provide safety, it demands an effort of the entire facility as a whole. As stated in the IHI Open School Basic Modules, the four main characteristics are “psychological safety, active leadership, transparency, and fairness”. I would create a safe environment in the healthcare setting by addressing any concerns the patient and/ or staff may have, being respectful and open-minded. I would create an open door policy, promoting communication and offering knowledge to ensure quality care and patient safety. If a mistake or error was made, I would help the individual in resolving the situation to ensure patient safety first as well as documenting the incident and focus on methods of prevention with the staff. For example, if a nurse approaches me with a question on how to insert an NG tube, I will not belittle the person or make smart remarks because doing so will create a harmful environment. Instead, I would offer my assistance and knowledge to ensure patient safety. Afterwards, to ensure competency and confidence of staff, I wound coordinate a mandatory in-service on NG tube insertion and placement. As an active leader, I would actively listen to my staff, addressing their questions and concerns. As a leader, I must realize that individuals are different and have different perspectives and/or beliefs about certain issues and the only way to know that is to listen. In my…
Discuss three patient safety issues that are present in the scenario. 1) Sara signed off medications on the MAR but she did not actually witness the patient taking the prescribed medications. 2) Sara left the medications unattended at the bedside. This is a careless practice. She should have carried them back to the nurse’s station and reattempted to administer the meds after the patient finished bathing.…
In any health care system, quality and safety of patient’s care is very important. According to my understanding, quality and safety of nursing care should include patient centred care, good communication, and teamwork. Also, a quality nursing care should be provided with dignity and respect, accountability, and advocacy.…
The National Patient Safety Goals require health care organizations to focus on specific priority safety practices, many involve nursing care…
The purpose of the National Patient Safety Goals are a specific way to focus on what are believed to be significant safety practices that have been identified by The Joint Commission as ways to improve on the care and safety of patients. These safety practices have established an approach to medical care that is now implemented by nurses and health care facilities nationwide.…
Write a paper outlining the most valuable learnings in the 16 courses. You may be surprised at some basic knowledge that IHI focuses on. At times your learning will be about knowledge that is not yet firmly established in our industry. Please also identify any course you did not think was worth the time.…
It is estimated that 1 in 10 patients will experience a nosocomial infection (Biddle, 2009). With this staggering fact, patient safety and infection prevention is at the forefront of healthcare. Many changes have occurred in this area since the 1840s. This is when Semmelweis, a Viennese obstetrician, made the observation, that women giving birth in an institutional setting 20% of them died of a febrile illness, whereas only about 1% in the home setting. He suggested that somehow a toxin was being spread from patient to patient on the hands of the care providers. This led him to demanding that physicians and nurses involved in obstetrical delivery wash their hands between patients (Biddle, 2009). Patient safety goals as described by American Association of College of Nurses, is to minimize risk to patients and providers as well, through an effective system of care or individual performance (Graduate level Quality and Safety Education for Nurses competencies knowledge, skills, & and attitudes, 2012). With the changes to the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare changing reimbursement policies, it is no wonder why we are going to even greater lengths to educate and implement new procedures to prevent hospital acquired infections. The purpose of this paper is to describe the issues of infection control in the surgical area and efforts that are being made to prevent surgical site infections.…
Clarke, S. (2003). Patient safety series, part 2 of 2: Balancing staffing and safety. Nursing…
Alarms have their advantages and disadvantages. However, we could not thrive in nursing without alarms because they save lives. Are they annoying at times, yes they do. In the ICU, alarms are never shut off or turned down; they are set specifically to the patients’ parameters. (Hebda & Czar, 2013, p. 14) stated that “Patient safety is a priority for the health systems, professionals, and consumers around the world.” In the scenario given regarding working in a sterile environment and having my cell phone ringing; I would be truthful and tell my patient that I am doing a sterile procedure and cannot touch the phone at this time. For example, there are several times when doctors and I are doing a sterile procedure and his or her phone or beeper rings, what do they do? In reality, the doctors ask another nurse who is in the sterile environment, but is not a part of the procedure to answer the phone or beeper.…