Qualitative Critical Appraisal

Awareness should be built among the doctors and nurses on the risks of medical errors owing to miscommunications. This can be done by periodically doing policy review sessions on patient safety.

Reflecting on learning the importance of nursing documentation/record keeping and written communication. I recognise it’s one of many skill sets imperative to communicating with others, and needed to be effective in my field. Gaps in communication can be risky to patient’s continuity of care, and can lead to detrimental errors such as incorrect medication dosage or treatments, impinging on their safety. Further breaching the (NMC, 2015, C: 13-16), where it is a requirement to protect the public and patients. Poor record keeping would affect my competence, duty of candour and my ability to raise concerns. Further putting patient’s safety at risk. Therefore it is crucial to for records to contain

As nurses we accept the responsibility of caring for the patient therefore, we have to be hold accountable for the care that we provide. It is important for nurses to use their own judgement in accepting responsibility, when to seek consultation and when and what to delegate to others. According to Battie & Steelam (2014), “a prospective nurse should hold themselves accountable for patient advocacy, continuity of care, lifelong learning, to colleagues, the nursing profession, and their organization”.

Poor record-keeping can have serious implications for the patient and the nurse. Professionally, colleagues rely on the information recorded on a patient to maintain continuity of care (Wood 2003). The patient’s progress could rapidly deteriorate due to poor record-keeping, holding the nurse responsible and accountable for the patient’s decline in condition. Poor record-keeping in this instance could include a nurse not documenting a nursing intervention such as administration of a medication. If this is not recorded another nurse could easily believe the patient did not get the medication and administer it again, causing overdose and possibly have severe implications for the patient depending on the medication. Another example could be if the nurse noticed the patient’s condition worsening but did not document it. Consequently the patient may get significantly worse before it is detected by the next nurse on duty. In these instances the nurse responsible for the poor record-keeping will most likely be brought to the Fitness to Practice Inquiry and as a result may lose his/her registration as a practicing nurse. If the nurse has made a grievous error a patient or family member could take civil action.

In healthcare systems, there is a concept of fair and just culture. That concept is important to manage the risk. In any organization, errors can happen. But, the best first tool to understand the error is to report it when it happens. Reporting error in healthcare contributes to minimize the risk of recurring.

This documentary video is very informative and very useful as eye-opener to all that works in the healthcare industry. John Hopkins patient safety expert have calculated that more than 250,000 deaths per year are due to medical error in the U.S. This large number, victims of medical error, leads to a stigma that people became questioning and doubting the capabilities of healthcare providers resulting on losing trust. This video “Chasing Zero” is a reminder that all nurses, doctors and all the people that works in healthcare industries should be very cautious on the care they provide to patients. A single error can hurt and worst, it can kill someone. This video made me realize as a nurse, that anyone can make a big mistake regardless of years

Lacking explanation or miscommunication for changes in the treatment plan or level of care can cause many medical errors and result in patient harms. There are complaints from patients, and their families regarding nurses do not spend the time to inform them of their daily medical conditions and help them to understand their diseases,

Interdepartmental communication and medical errors have both been proven as causes of harm to patients in health care settings. When there are gaps in communications between nurses changing shifts or patient transitions from one department to another, medical errors can occur and cause harm to patients. Even though there has been improvement in recognition of these problems and actions taken to reduce communication gaps and medical errors, there still needs to be more work, especially in individual facilities.

It is the goal of all healthcare providers and organizations to provide quality care to all patients without error. The truth is, even healthcare providers make some mistakes. The question is, when an error occurs who is to be held responsible? Is it, the nurse who administered the wrong medication, due to being overworked and lack of staff to help? Or is it the Healthcare Organization (HCO), because they should have fixed the staffing issues. There are so many factors that contribute to an error. I believe each situation should be properly investigated, before placing blame where it should or should not be placed.

Miscommunication and missed information, resulting in potential errors, have been on the rise at Pelham Medical Center. In the past, the primary nursing staff was giving verbal report to oncoming nurses at the nursing stations. There are many disadvantages to this practice. Verbal report at the nursing station is distracting with so many nurses talking at the same time and is frequently interrupted by other staff, call bells, and family members. There are also potential HIPPA violations when reporting on patients within earshot of other people who are not involved in that patient’s care. The patients and their family members or care

The principle of raising concerns is an important feature in making sure appropriate action is taken in the interest of the public. The term “raising concerns” is described by the NMC (Nursing and Midwifery Council, 2015) as the “raising of concerns about a risk, danger or malpractice which could have a negative effect on others”. This concept is regarded as a moral obligation which gives health professionals, including nurses, an incentive to be honest, particularly when things go wrong. Raising concerns can also be referred to as “whistleblowing” which is defined as exposing healthcare professionals who are not acting appropriately in the workplace to the proper authorities, thereby preventing further harm to patients (Tippett, 2004). Another

I agree with you that under reporting medical errors compromise patient safety.  It is important to report mistakes not only to appropriately follow up with the affected patient but also the improve  the protocol if its needed.  I also think that fear plays a huge part on nurses not reporting errors. I think that they are afraid of the consequences or penalties for the errors. I enjoy reading your post.

This exploration contributed from the base consideration for seeing how current nursing understudies are taught about the imperative subjects of value and security. Furthermore, looking at what approaches and rules are set up to help with instructing about issues of blunders and close misses. The examination addressed determination and what the strategies for announcing and how subsequent meet-ups of understudy mistakes and close misses, the rules for the structure for detailing the blunders and close misses made by the understudies. This examination additionally scrutinized the recognizing patterns of structures and apparatuses utilized as a part of the issue, the procedures to diminish the event later on and the techniques concerning clinical educators after the mistake, and how refreshing the clinical offices. Ultimately, the motivation behind the led look into was to analyze the approach of nursing school strategies contrasted with confirm based practice assets utilized by the staff of the projects and

There are five principles to ethical nursing. The first principle, nonmaleficence, or do no harm, it is directly tied to a nurse's duty to protect the patient's safety. This principle dictates that we do not cause injury to our patients. A way that harm can occur to patients is through communication failures. These failures can be intentional or as a result of electronic or human error. Failing to convey accurate information, giving wrong messages, and breaking down of equipment, can cause harm to patients. Some of these communication problems may certainly occur whether a patient is at a neighborhood clinic or 500 miles away, but distance and high reliance on electronic technology make close examination of communication and ethical

Reporting errors can strengthen the processes of care and also enhance the quality of care. To effectively avoid further errors that can cause harm to patients, improvements must be made on the incidents or events reported in reporting system. Reporting errors can help the organizations better understand what happened, identify the factors that cause the occurrence of errors or incidents, determine its frequency and predict whether it could happen again and find an intervention to prevent or to