Data Collection: Improving Patient Medication Communication

Nurses have communication issues with physicians with leading the to errors that are occurring in the health care team. Nurse are feeling pressured into giving a medication that they have a question the safety and they feel they are and unable to effectively communicate their concerns. This leads to a poor outcome for the patients. Its is very important to ensure we have effective nurse-patient and interdisciplinary communication so we ensure our patients are being taken care of properly. Each health care team member plays an integral role in patient outcomes. The health care communicates their recommendations. No health care team member acts in isolation and the patient trust that her team is working as a whole to help her to achieve the best outcome. If the nurses and physicians don’t always communicate information in the same matter then a poor outcome occurs. Nurses look at the broad picture and want to give details, and physicians want the pertinent clinical information quickly. The nurses are taught to use SBAR reporting. The nurses briefly explain the situation with the patient, gives some background information about what led up to the development, provides an assessment and then makes a recommendation to the physician. By doing this, it helps to improve communication efficiency and accuracy. The SBAR also helps to promote quality and patient safety, primarily because it helps individuals communicate with each other with a shared set of expectations. By communicating effectively, the outcome will be positive for the

Poor communication puts patients in danger because it can lead to medical errors and adverse events. For example, a medication error can occur if a physician’s orders are not updated in time or if the outgoing nurse does not provide the correct time in which a dose was administered last. Thus it is crucial to communicate any recent treatment that has been implemented. In this way, nurses and physicians can facilitate the prevention of errors. Another consequence of ineffective communication is that it can decrease morale and increase work-related stress among members of the healthcare team. If nurses and physicians are not understanding each other’s actions, conflict ensues. It can cause toxic interpersonal relationships. This, in turn, will affect the level of patient care because it is difficult to focus amidst emotional strain and

Low literacy affects many individuals within today’s society. The amount of individuals that are unable to comprehend medication labels, medication regimens, and learning points from discharge teaching is shocking and result in further health related injuries (Koh et al., 2012). Nurses must take the important task of recognizing an individual literacy and comprehension ability before planning the individual’s care plan. The nurse must find out the ways an individual can receive information that

This article will look at two articles and focus on aspects of safety medication administration in nursing practice by the staff nurses. This is interesting area because the previous report on the medication administration error in the UK shows that approximately 5.6% of doses administered to adult hospital patients and it has been estimated that 0.6-1.2% of medication administration errors may lead to severe harm even death (Mcleod et al, 2013). Leape et al (1995) indicated that nurses were responsible for 86% of all medication error interception, regardless of the original errors. The nurses play the important role in identifying the causes of medication errors and preventing medication administration errors in nursing practice in order to provide safe care toward the service users (Henneman et al, 2010). The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA 2004) documented that the health professionals need to effectively and safely use medicines to ensure patients get the maximum benefit from the medicine; meanwhile minimizing the potential harm. This article will be critiqued on the different types of evidence which explored safety medication administration in the nursing practice toward service user. Using evidence is important in nursing practice because it can help nurses in addressing questions related to best possible care and improve patients’ outcome. It is embedded within the code the nurses are expected to use best possible evidence in the nursing

Administration of medication to a patient is an interdisciplinary concern. When dealing with medication, nurses are held with as much accountability as other members within the medical team. To uphold this standard, it is important for nurses to stay informed with new research to help provide better care to their patients. The nursing community also adheres to the “nursing process,” a guide that nurses utilize to achieve well-rounded care. Nurses can relate the nursing process not only to their plan of care, but also to different subjects to systematically analyze information. Applying the nursing process to this research created a connection that allows awareness of the

The National Patient Safety Goal 13 was to encourage patients to actively involve in their own care as a patient safety strategy. As per the Joint Commission (2007), the teach-back method is the preferred method to address that goal. According to Fenwick ( n.d.), “Teach-back can help providers communicate with people with low health literacy, but it can also help with communicating overall—even with people with proficient health literacy”. Both the National Quality Forum and The Joint Commission endorse the teach-back method for use in teaching and proper administration of discharge instructions for both the patients and caregivers (Fenwick, n.d.). The American Medical Association also provides the tool kit to educate health care professionals in the use of the teach-back method (Fenwick, n.d.).

Teaching patients about their illnesses and how to prevent illness are essential components of patient self-care. However, we now understand that people have individual ways of learning and many factors can influence one’s ability and willingness to learn. As the healthcare professionals continue to explore new ways to improve the quality of healthcare, they must undoubtedly tailor interventions and educations programs to meet patient’s unique needs. Deborah Clayton studied the effectiveness of reducing HF readmissions through patient education activities and the use of critical thinking skills (2012). She endorses that transition of care programs should focus on stimulating self-care, helping patients recognize warning signs, and preventing hospital readmissions. Moreover, she promotes the use of cognitive aids such as handouts to help patients visually identify changes in their condition as well as diaries and logs help patients track symptoms and progress (Clayton, 2012). Finally, she supports the use of teaching techniques that require patients to recall information and perform “teach-backs” because they help ensure that patients fully comprehend information that has been taught (Clayton,

Within the first 40 hours I attended and observed a patient education board meeting. The meeting consisted of nurses, doctors, and the library. The discussions are on how to educate the patients. Each department presents potential patient education material. All materials must be approved by the board and must adhere to a six-grade reading level. I observed the monthly nurses board meeting where the discussion focused on nurse’s research and submission of their work to the new digital repository.

As a patient educator it would be important to know the audience you’re speaking to so that you can speak at the level the patient can understand the information that you are giving them. It is vital that patient educators, whether primary care physician, nurse, or health care provider, understand their patients’ health beliefs, values, and level of understanding (i.e. you wouldn’t speak to a child the same way you would speak to an adult to inform them about the treatment medication they’re on. So avoid speaking gaffes and talk to them in a way, using language they understand, so that they follow doctors’ orders, understand what’s happening to them, what they are taking, etc.). The more one understands their patient audience, the better compliance

Advocacy is one of the essential roles of the nurse and allows for nurses to use their voice to influence policies that ensure patient safety. Promoting patient safety and using whistle-blower protection are strategies the nurse can use to effectively support quality care and safe environment (Cherry & Jacob, 2017). Approximately 44,000 to 98,000 patients die in hospitals each year as a result of preventable medical errors (Cherry & Jacob, 2017). One way to support a safe and quality care to patients is by limiting interruptions during medication administration (Flynn, Evanish, Fernald, Hutchison, & Lefaiver, 2016). Additionally, incomplete handoff reports have been associated with poor patient outcomes (Kear, 2016). Kear (2016) recommends systematic tools for handoff communication such as SBAR (situation, background, assessment, & recommendation) for effective handoff reports.

Nursing is also more than just following physicians’ orders, we as nurses need to be educated and have the ability to provide compassionate care. Nurses often provide information and insight gained from their relationship with their patient that can have a huge impact on their plan of care and final outcome. Nurses also need to be able to educate our patients, so they can be empowered to perform their own care as necessary. As the medical field continues to evolve and focus on interdisciplinary teams, nurses need to be prepared to fulfill their responsibility to their

The use of evidence-based teach-back techniques provides nurses with the necessary tools to assess the patient’s health literacy while confirming effective learning. Educational interventions implementing “teach-back” have proven to be successful in evaluating retention and comprehension of patient education material (Bobay et al., 2015; Kornburger et al., 2013). Teach-back methodology is an evidence-based strategy utilized at the bedside to verify understanding and reinforce important discharge information (Kornburger et al., 2013). Teach-back, also known as the “show me” and “repeat back” technique, is used as a strategy to minimize miscommunication between patient and nurse (National Quality Forum, 2005; White et al., 2012). The National Quality Forum (NQF) has promoted the teach-back method as “one of thirty-four proven safe practices mitigating medication errors and adverse events “(Jager & Wynia, 2012, p.295). Furthermore, the Joint Commission (JC), Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) support the use of teach-back as best practice when completing discharge teaching to ensure positive outcomes (Jager & Wynia, 2012; Kornburger et al., 2013; White et al., 2012). Instituting best practice, as well as communication that is timely, accurate and understood by the patient can reduce adverse events and

At the facility that I work at they have worked to reduce medication errors by beginning to implement a scanning system that prompts the nurse to scan the identification bracelets of patients before they are given a medication. Another tool they use is a co-signer on all high risk medications. The hospital also designs education systems specifically for each unit. For example: I work on a spinal cord injury floor and one of the greatest risks for patients is autonomic dysreflexia. To combat this serious medical condition every health care provider (including CNA’s) are educated on what to do and how to react. There are also educational posters and quizzes about proper oral hygiene. There is a high focus on education and they encourage us to use the education department and the resources that they provide. All if this benefits the clients that we serve and the facility as a whole. Educating the nurses in the importance of intake and output after a surgery would have been beneficial in the Blackman case.

As an educator nurses first must determine whether or not the patient or caregiver is capable of safe medication administration. Evaluation and assessment of the patient or responsible caregiver’s ability to perform medication administration is an essential task of the nurse. Once it has been established that the patient or caregiver is capable of medication administration it is the nurse’s responsibility to educate on general medication

1a) SN to assess the patient and family learning needs, information needs and current level of knowledge about her medication treatment. Rationale: “The education needs of patients and