Safety In Nursing Practice

Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) was developed with the purpose of providing professional nurses with the knowledge, skills and attitudes (KSA) necessary to continuously improve the quality and safety of the health care systems within which they work (QSEN, 2014). However, since its implementation and integration in nursing education, studies show little progress in improving quality and safety in health care delivery (Dolansky & Moore, 2013). The purpose of this article critique is to evaluate the cause analysis and recommendations made by the authors.

Mandating safe staffing levels for registered nurses in acute care settings has been an important topic of discussion for many years. As the demand for registered nurses continues to rise, so does the clinical demands on the nurses currently working. If there are no specific policies in place that mandate safe and appropriate nurse-to-patient ratios for all acute care facilities, registered nurses (RNs) may be required to take on even more patients than the already high numbers currently given to many of them. Inadequate RN staffing has the potential to cause increases in adverse patient events (American Nurses Association (ANA), The registered nurse safe staffing act, 2015) as well as an increase in nurse injury (Musick, Trotto, & Morrison,

Pamela F. Cipriano, President of American Nurses Association was in disbelief to see how she has tried to enforce the Nightingale pledge of keeping patients free from harm was failed because medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the United States. As of now ANA has conducted yearlong campaign named “Safety 360 It Starts with You” in order to reduce and take measurable advances to protect the welfare of nurses and workers. It is one of campaign that the ANA comes with that is in support to both the nurses and patients. However, in the real-world nurses are stress and fatigue due to patient ratio. In my workplace, which is a state hospital, they have full time nurses on call where nurses work more than 70 hours a week. The nurses

Palliative care is a relatively new concept. Palliative care programs have become more numerous and better utilized since 2000 and continue to grow. It is now accepted that the palliative care model is appropriate for patients with life-limiting illnesses. Chan et al. (2013) stated that the ultimate goal of palliative care is to relieve suffering and to maximize the quality of life for dying patients and their families, regardless of the stage of illness or the need for other medical treatments (p. 133). As life-expectancy increases, there is a growing need for these services. People are living longer with chronic diseases and palliative care services can provide an extra layer of support to patients and their families. Evidence has shown that 13% - 36% of hospital inpatients qualify for palliative care services (Robinson, Gott, & Ingleton, 2014).

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (2000) shows that 48% of all non-fatal work related assaults and acts of violence have occurred in health care and social service settings. Violence against mental health and health care workers has the potential to cause major physical injuries and psychological trauma. In return this poses serious consequences on employers such as increased turnover, medical and psychological care, increased absenteeism, decreased morale, job dissatisfaction, legal issues, and worker burn-out. Agencies and clinicians are encouraged to evaluate and identify the risks that are potential barriers in their agencies. Safety plans need to be implemented and strategized along with re-evaluations on a continuous basis (Taylor, H. 2013).

Presently in the health care field there is a push for safe nurse to patient ratios in acute care settings to provide quality and safe practices that will reduce the risk of complications and adverse effects as the acuity of patients continue to increase. As patients are staying in acute care facilities for less time resulting in the need for continued care after discharge. The fluctuation of higher rates of acuity of patients in the skilled nursing faculties and nursing home setting are placing higher demand on staffing, which is already at higher ratio levels of nurse to patient.

Nursing care goes beyond just treating patients and caring for them and their families, it consists of long hours, working holidays, being an advocate, being under paid, and much more. One rising concern is violence in the workplace. It is believed that “health professionals are 16 times more likely to suffer violence at work compared to professionals in all other areas (Lancman, Mangia, Muramoto, 2013, p. 520). This can have many long lasting effects on the affected individuals.

The priority issue is safe staffing for nurses working in hospitals. This issue is a priority because many times nurses are overwhelmed with his or her patient load and cannot provide safe, effective patient care. With such a heavy emphasis on patient outcomes and patient satisfaction, more attention should be dedicated to this issue. Research studies consistently find that whenever there is high patient-nurse ratio it negatively impacts patient safety. A great number of studies have demonstrated that higher nurse staffing levels and richer skill mix have a strong association with reduced adverse patient outcomes (Twigg, Gelder, & Myers, 2015). This paper will discuss policy priority issue of safe staffing by identifying key points, providing supporting empirical evidence and recommendations to improve safe staffing, and the impact and importance safe staffing has on nursing.

The Registered Nurse Safe Staffing Act of 2015 (H.R. 2083) was introduced by Senator Lois Capps to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide patient protection by establishing safe nurse staffing levels. It proposes a balanced approach to ensure adequate RN staffing. It ascertains that direct care nurses, working closely with managers, are best equipped to determine the staffing level for the patients on their units. Higher patient loads put patients at risk for longer hospital stays, increased infections, avoidable medication errors, falls, injuries and even death. The Act considers RN educational preparation, professional certification and level of clinical experience, the number and capacity of available health care personnel, and the geography of a unit including available technology in relation to patient

Patient safety is one of the top priorities for health care organizations. Numerous conversations and evidence bases research have been conducted, with the aim of pinpointing factors that can be controlled to improve and preserve patient safety. This essay will explore one area that health organizations can control that has a direct correlation to patient safety: providing optimal staffing levels of nurses. Exploration of potential problems that touch on this subject will be discussed: morality and falls, ethical responsibility, fiscal data, as well as

At the beginning of each shift, nurses should complete their safety assessment which includes: beds are locked and in lower positions, non-skid socks are applied, adequate lighting in the room, bed-chair alarm is verified if applicable, call bell and water cups are within reach, and room furniture is well arranged with no clutter. All these tasks should be included in the monthly educational sessions and the yearly evaluations. In addition, the charge nurse needs to reinforce the safety check among nurses in a regular basis. On the other hand, most nurses are spending a great amount of time on charting their assessments outside the patients’ rooms. Knowing that every patient room is equipped with a computer, nurses can complete all their nursing

In the article “A culture of patient safety in nursing homes” by Castle N.G and Sonon K.E the patient safety defined and highlighted as “the prevention of harm caused by errors” by several health related organizations. The most common errors are patient falls, medication errors, resident or patient identification, care giver miscommunication and healthcare‐associated infections. Nursing homes should be addressing the patient safety more than the other health organizations due to the state of their residents. The authors are adapting a research to evaluating the patient safety culture at nursing homes in United States. The assessment was done by sending questioning survey form to several nursing homes in the area. The collection of returning

In a related article entitled, “Nurse Manager Safety Practices in Outpatient Hemodialysis Units,” the researchers mainly focused on the role of a nurse manager in maintaining a safe environment for the dialysis patients (Thomas-Hawkins, Flynn, Lindgren, & Weaver, 2015). According Thomas-Hawkins et al., about 409,000 residents of the U.S. receive now hemodialysis (HD) treatment (2015). This is the reason IOM suggested the nurse managers as the front-liners to improve the quality of care to the patient by identifying possible problems in the unit and formulating a solution right before the problem even happens or gets worst. The research used a descriptive qualitative design wherein the only eligible participants are those who “had worked full-time

Globally, approximately 11 million new cases of cancer are diagnosed annually. This number is expected to increase due to the growth in the years to come due to the increase in the aging population that is susceptible to the development of cancer, an increase in exposure to these carcinogens and an increase in the general world population (Connor & McDiarmid, 2006). These will ultimately result in the high exposure of the nurses to these drugs; the effect of which is dangerous to their overall health. Though safety measure exists, very few nurses adhere to these measures promptly and at all times. Hence, a study of the safe handling of the antineoplastic drugs and security measures to reduce exposure to their hazardous effects and an education

Hospice or palliative care is a route many patients and families choose. The difference between the two is that hospice care is geared towards patients with a life expectancy of six or less months while palliative care is not limited by a patients’ life expectancy or their reference of curative medications or procedures. Nevertheless, the primary goal is to improve the quality of life and relieve suffering (emotional, physical, and mental). There have been many studies done, such as one in 2010 by the New England Journal of Medicine, that show those who have lung cancer, but received palliative care may live almost two months longer than the patients who don’t as a result of improvement in quality of life and mood. Nevertheless, studies such as these gives evidence that palliative and hospice care is effective and are great programs that terminally-ill patients and their families should engage.