Shadow Shift : Public Health Essay

Bedside shift reporting, is it necessary? Baker (2010) states that is has its benefits, from patient safety, increased patient involvement and staff teamwork, ownership and accountability.” (Baker, 2010) To promote stronger engagement, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality developed the Guide to Patient and Family Engagement in Hospital Quality and Safety for bedside reporting. (AHRQ, 2013)

In this task I will be describing how health and safety legislation, policies and procedures promotes the safety of individuals in a Hospital. Quality care is an important issue for both health care workers and their partners. Government continue to work on implementing staffing law that will upgrade the medical systems. Hospitals are required to provide security for patients and staff. Mechanical equipment, housekeeping, administrative and food staff play important roles in preventing all environmental hazards. Safety concerns surrounding these hazards include injury, illness, disease exposure, disaster

As a shift leader I monitor and report any health and safety risks whilst at work. For example I monitor when in their flats i.e. when moving around, preparing food, to ensure their safety. I also report to the house manager or manager any type of potential health and safety risks for example; I recently brought to the manager’s attention that a ceiling hoist support pole was out of alignment, and that it would need rectifying before it could be used again.

healthcare organization accrediting bodies, and to maintain credibility with patients and peers alike, must adhere to the National Patient Safety Goals. As stated by Ulrich and Kear (2014), "Not only are nurses responsible for providing safe patient care, we are also responsible for creating an environment in which others can provide safe patient care, and for being the last line of defense when needed between the patient and potential harm. Having a deep understanding of patient safety and patient safety culture allows nurses to be the leaders we need to be in ensuring that our patients are always

Public health nursing is an important aspect of nursing field, which contributes tremendously to the safety and health of our society. Public health nurses work hard to assure our communities are healthy and are able to attain needed support to be self-sufficient. However, it seems their hard work goes unnoticed by vast majority of our society. This of course, is my opinion, but I would say that if I were to survey various communities, most people would say that “Nurses just work in the hospital”. I could be very wrong.

For decades, something was missing in patient care. Crucial quality and safety-improvement professionals involved in healthcare delivery were formerly not located in the places where care was actually provided. This often resulted in a disconnect that fragmented healthcare quality, safety, and improvement. According to Reid and Dennison, in their article The Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL)®: Point-of-Care Safety Clinician, “The role of the Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL)® restores this vital connection. The CNL is a clinician who brings the locus of control for safe and quality care from the administrative areas straight to the unit’s providers who deliver the services. “

Nurses are undoubtedly one of the most trusted professionals worldwide. Patients, family members, and doctors entrust nurses to provide the utmost quality care to sick individuals. Top priorities of all nurses are advocacy for their patients: including advocating for their physical health, holistic welfare, and utmost importantly, their safety. Patient safety will always be the top priority when providing patient care. The nurse’s responsibility during every patient encounter is to ensure that each patient under her care, receives no harm. As a direct result of the previous statement, it is crucial that every nurse knows their rights to refuse unsafe patient assignments, the process to refuse unsafe patient assignments, and the legal or ethical ramifications that could present themselves if proper judgement is not used. By understanding these rules, nurses not only achieve the responsibility of advocating for patient safety but also safeguard their careers and license.

Workplace safety is a major issue faced by nurses in healthcare settings. It is said that, hospitals are hazardous workplaces; unsafe workplaces are dangerous for the patients too. Today, many nurses are suffering hospital violence, heavy workloads causing serious injuries, contracting diseases caused by exposures to certain diseases, antineoplastics, and certain health care toxins, that workers bring home to their families. This in turn leads to acute staff shortages. Ample supply of nurses is very important in providing safe and timely care to the patient population. Maintaining a healthy workplace will enable the healthcare systems to control costs associated with healthcare management as well as enhancing the productivity of nurses in health care. It is estimated that creating a healthy environment in the workplace not only benefit nurses, but also benefits patients and other members of the health care team. This report explains some of the safety issues existing in health care, which directly or indirectly affects nurses as well as the health of the Canadian population.

Finally, we must address accountability. We know hospitals, and long-term facilities can be a hectic work place and often face challenges of staffing issues and so forth. Nonetheless, we must be consistent. Godlock, Christiansen, and Feider (2016), recommends the use of a safety team in facility; some responsibilities may include identifying prevention strategies, education and teaching, spot checks, as well as patient chart reviews all of which promotes compliance and

The public health nurses are integral part of the nursing workforce, who are caring for the entire populations. They are involved in educating people about health issues, identifying health risk factors unique to specific communities, provide health-related interventions based on community needs, conducting health prevention activities such as immunizations and screenings, and advocating to improve health care access for underserved communities (Explore Health Careers, 2016). The public health nurses are involve in illness prevention, and health promotion by reaching

The roal of public health nursing is to promote and protect the health of the population. This proactive approach does not limit their scope of practice to health concerns of individuals but also to developing and implementing programs and policies that help enhance the health of populations. The role of public health nurses is to focus on population centered care with the outcome of promoting health, preventing disability and disease, and improving the quality of life. An effective public health nurse is able to evaluate assessment data to define population diagnoses and set priorities accordingly. They can also serve as advocates for individuals and families in the population to develop policies, access resources, and protect their

Errors pervade in our lives whether it is our home, in our workplace, or in our society. The effects of healthcare errors have impacted all our lives either directly or indirectly. Patient safety and quality care are at the core of healthcare system which strongly depends upon nurses. “To achieve goals in patient safety and quality, thereby improve healthcare, nurses must assume the leadership role. Nurses need to ensure that they and other healthcare providers center healthcare on patients and their families. Even though the quality and safety of healthcare is heavily influenced by the complex nature

Heath: The building was clean and free from clutter. I observed a child who had woke up with his eye extremely red and crusty. Ms. Epps placed him at a table right outside the office door, but that was still in direct supervision on classroom staff and her. Ms. Epps called the child's parents to come and pick him up. After the child was picked up Ms. Epps disinfected the table, chair and toys which they child was playing with. I reviewed the current health inspection

Advanced Professional Roles and Values MSN Program Conceptual Framework The MSN Program Conceptual Framework contains three roles that nurses can inhabit within their careers. The three roles are: Nurse as Detective, Nurse as Scientist, and Nurse as Manager of Healing Environment. The conceptual framework contains 10 model elements that includes: Teamwork and Collaboration, Professional/Legal/Ethical, Communication, Cultural Competency, Safety and Quality, Leadership/Education, Informatic/Technology, Genomics/Genethics, Evidence-Based Practice, and Compassionate Patient-Centered Care. The Role of “Nurse as Detective” The MSN Conceptual Framework defines the role of a nurse as a detective as, “The nurse uses clinical imagination coupled with

Every academic discipline in any profession is governed by its rules and policies developed and prone to amendment from time to time after viewing or arises of an issue. Nursing as a profession practice and an academic discipline is however not an exemption to this (Lasater et al., 2015). The nursing practice has different policies governing the procedures, and that promotes health and wellbeing of the patients as well as creating a conducive environment for nurses and the people they interact with in delivery of their services such as medical therapists, technicians, among others (Blegen et al., 2007). These policies ensure that there is a smooth running of the activities for the nurses as well as the patients. There exists a broad array of policies, but in this paper, the registered nurse safe staffing Act system will be looked into particularly in Florida.