The Importance Of Variation In Healthcare

You have brown hair and I have blonde. You drive a large blue car and I drive a small black car. You enjoy math and I despise it. These are all examples of variation. Variation is a subject that affects our daily lives and decisions we make every single day. Each individual on planet Earth is different and to me that is what the definition of variation is. Because we are all different, grow up different, and all achieve different goals we are all going to make unique choices throughout our lifetimes. In the medical field we all want to keep variations to a minimum. I believe that implementing evidence based clinical practice guidelines can reduce variations in practice. These guidelines are put in place as a universal consistency in health care facilities all over the country. If variations are to occur when implementing clinical practice guidelines things will become chaotic and unsystematic. The guidelines are there to help direct physicians and staff members, so if variations occur one may not know what to do in a time of crisis.
Variation can also cost the facility both time and money. Errors that are made my variation can come in all shapes and sizes. Misinformation I believe is one of the biggest variations caused in the medical field. “Misinformation is information that is incorrect because of such factors as misinterpretation, improper recording, underreporting, and data collection mistakes” (Spath, 2011, p. 108). An example of variation that could possibly happen in the healthcare system is a patients test results are accidently put in the wrong pile. Because this paperwork could not be found, that same patient is moved out of the intensive care unit putting the patient at risk. This error may seem minor could end up not only endangering the patient, but also putting the healthcare facility at risk due to their