Safety Intervention Essay

As a nurse, it’s crucial for our jobs to be a priority due to the needs of others. We must always be safe because not only are we liable, we are also trusted in the public’s eye as being

Nursing and healthcare continue to change on a daily basis. The one thing that has remained constant during these changes is maintaining the safety of our patients. By maintaining their safety, nurses must ensure that they are keeping up-to-date with the changes in technology now being introduced in healthcare, new and emerging diseases, new equipment, and changes in treatment modalities. One such responsibility is ensuring that nurses do not operate equipment they were not oriented to or trained to use in an effort to prevent injury patients. Nurses and other healthcare professionals are being held accountable for practicing within their scope of practice based on their licensure regulations, and the company policies and procedures. Therefore, nurses are responsible for their professional growth and practice by ensuring that they comply with the necessary standards required by their profession.

The nursing tasks include an ongoing interaction with patients, families, and other health care team members. Because of the high involvement with patients, nurses have the utmost responsibility to guard the patient’s safety. However, the American Nurses Association [ANA] (2015) made a valid point in stating that keeping patients safe and well starts by having a healthy nurse working in a safe environment. Additionally, Kieft, De Brouwer, Francke, and Delnoij (2014) also mentioned the study of the direct correlation between the nurses’ working environment and the patients’ quality of care. As such, nurses have to be cognizant of these environmental safety risks – staffing and occupational hazard - and plan interventions for both nurses and patients’ safety.

The United States is by far one of the countries with a solid health care system. Despite facing unique challenges in the delivery of care, the country provides better health care options to its citizens than many countries in the world, with nursing forming the largest health care profession. Among the responsibilities nurses have, keeping their patients safe is still a struggle and their number one priority. According to the Journal of Research Fundamental Care Online

Safety education should be included in core competencies and evidence-based principles in nursing schools curriculums (Perhats, et al., 2012, p. 547). This will help to better prepare students to handle the job hazards that come with nursing professions and promotes workplace safety. Furthermore, hospital administrations play an important role in creating a workplace safety. Prevention and de-escalation training programs need to be intensify to decrease the episodes of verbal and physical violence against nurses (Speroni, et. al, 2014, p. 227). In addition, the reporting structures needs to improve in

Patient’s safety is an essential and vital component of quality of care. Yet, healthcare providers face many challenges in today’s healthcare environment in trying to keep patients safe. Healthcare organizations are embracing the sciences of safety, improvement, human factors, and complexity to transform their culture into a culture of safety in high reliability. Nurses are the front lines of safety and quality processes and outcomes. Therefore, nurses are required to both understand and develop the skills needed to improve care processes and to own the work of improvement as a professional responsibility.

Assistive devices can greatly reduce the occurrence of back injuries among nurses. To promote safe practice, handling aids such as hoists can be used to assist nursing staff and reduce the need to manually handle patients, however they may not always be a suitable option (Barnes, 2007). A balance needs to be established between maintaining the health and safety of the patient and ensuring that their human right and dignity are not compromised in any way (Barnes, 2007). It is important to promote the use of ergonomic equipment and assistive devices, which can be done by encouraging the health care organization to invest in a safe patient-handling program (Zerwekh & Garneau, 2015). This can reduce the hidden costs of health care organizations

A short lecture lasting approximately seven minutes was used to start off the teaching session. This lecture consisted primarily of a definition of the problem, guidelines to address the problem, and obstacles that could be encountered while trying to implement solutions for the problem. A simplistic handout was dispersed among the group of attendees during the lecture to allow for easy reinforcement of the topics covered (see Appendix C for handout). The handout covers guidelines for patient mobilization, assistive devices, and potential obstacles to successful patient mobilization. In an effort to engage visual learners, the handout includes pictures exhibiting the guidelines for patient mobilization. At the end of the lecture, a one to two minute end survey directed by the educator served as the method of evaluation. Following the lecture, the group of ten students engaged in discussion regarding rules for proper body mechanics in the hospital setting. This took approximately five minutes in combination with a short end survey to evaluate effectiveness. After finishing with the discussion, the educator—with assistance from the physical therapy staff—gave a short demonstration on use of assistive devices. This lasted three to five minutes as well. Finally, the students were paired off and required give a return demonstration of use of assistive devices while adhering to proper body mechanics. They were given a patient scenario (one acted as nurse, other as patient),

With rapidly advancing technology and the aging population, health care improvement remains at the center of providing proper patient care. However, it is imperative to ensure improvement is quality improvement, thus advancing patient care while still protecting patient safety. Quality and Safety Education in Nursing provides goals and guidelines for providing the best care. Prioritizing patient-centered care, quality improvement, and teamwork provides methods to increase patient safety, while excellent patient care can be maximized when striving to achieve cares that are safe, timely, efficient, effective, equitable, and patient-centered.

Safety and quality have been the center of the nursing profession since the beginning, therefore this topic is not new to the nurses. We provide care to our vulnerable patients and ensure that safety and quality are of the utmost crucial. The safety and quality should be the responsible to everyone working in the health care field, " All health care professionals are expected to contribute to the quality and safety of health care delivery system" (Kelly, Voterro, & Christie, 2014, p. 66). The health care organizations must have policies and procedures to ensure that excellent care is provided at all times. One example that comes to mind is the Magnet Status. This status signifies excellence in nursing care.

In the year 2000, over 10,000 registered nurses lost work time due to injuries sustained while manually lifting patients in the workplace

This chapter covers literature review on knowledge and practice of body mechanics among nurses. Databases searched include GOOGLE, SCHOLAR, MED PUB, MEDLINE and CINAHL.

What does it take to be a safe nurse? The nursing profession offers many opportunities for error. Great challenges arise when trying to keep patients safe. Quality health care is defined by patient safety and the fulfillment of personal needs. Society, nurses, physicians, and patients themselves are responsible for ensuring that the operational systems and methods are taken to reduce the likelihood of errors occurring. As a nurse, it is important to make sure that the appropriate actions are being taken to limit the amount of mistakes that put patients and their families at risk. Although a nurse has to perform to a certain level of competency, there is

In this article the author’s piloted a quasi-experimental study without a control group to detect the impact on patient safety through a nursing education program comprising of seven online courses. Fifty seven senior nurses took part in the educational program, completing a survey 4 months before and after receiving the education. Safety culture and adverse events including pressure ulcers and falls were tracked monthly. Results revealed

Hospitals and other healthcare facilities can only maintain their credibility through a well-protected and healthy workforce. Policies such as combating violence and hazards in the workplace give patients more faith and trust in their healthcare providers' (Fitzpatrick, 2013). Nursing also becomes more committed to their work and faithful to their patients when they know that their safety and health is put into consideration (Fitzpatrick, 2013). Institutions that take care of their stuff such as minimizing exposure to harmful chemicals to their nurses tend to be more successful with a more robust workforce that those who neglect responsibility for their workers (Fitzpatrick, 2013). Nurse safety in the workplace is a reflection of the ANA code of ethics.