Risk Management Comprehensive Nursing Paper Example

Risk Management Comprehensive Nursing Paper Example

Topic 7 DQ 1

The human factor constitutes environmental, organization, and job factors, human and individual features, attitudes, beliefs, and characteristics that affect behavior at work to influence health and safety. Human factors are critical in reducing medical errors and influencing behavior. Job factors include task, workload, working environment, and procedure roles. Individual factors entail skills, personality, competence, attitude, risk perception, and attitudes (Health and Safety Executive, 2020). Organizational factors comprise resources, communication, workplace culture, and leadership. Good safety management systems and risk control systems should include these aspects of human factors. Human factors or personal values influence nursing behavior and can help nurses achieve better healthcare outcomes since strengths, limitations, and values affect nursing practice, particularly clinical decisions directly impacting patient safety. Understanding individual and organizational values can help enhance patient-centered decision-making in the clinical environment. Therefore, nurses should have in-depth knowledge and awareness of their individual and professional values to offer safe and high-quality health care.(Risk Management Comprehensive Nursing Paper Example)

Clinical decision-making is a complicated process conditioned by many factors and has significant implications for patient outcomes. According to Davis et al. (2019), out of 3422 patient deaths, 226 cases involve a clinical decision-making incidence. This number is concerning for the healthcare system. For instance, insufficient postoperative evaluation can lead to poorly controlled postoperative pain with considerable ramifications such as increased complications, including pneumonia and blood clots (Gan, 2017). Pain should be managed carefully, with the healthcare providers and the patient collaborating in decision-making to develop the most appropriate plan.(Risk Management Comprehensive Nursing Paper Example)

References

Davis, S. S., Babidge, W. J., McCulloch, G. A., & Maddern, G. J. (2019). Fatal flaws in clinical decision-making. ANZ Journal of Surgery, 89(6), 764-768.(Risk Management Comprehensive Nursing Paper Example)

Gan, T. J. (2017). Poorly controlled postoperative pain: prevalence, consequences, and prevention. Journal of pain research, 10, 2287–2298. https://doi.org/10.2147/JPR.S144066(Risk Management Comprehensive Nursing Paper Example)

Health and Safety Executive. (2020). Introduction to human factors. https://www.hse.gov.uk/humanfactors/introduction.htm(Risk Management Comprehensive Nursing Paper Example)

Topic 7 DQ 2

Communication and teamwork or interprofessional skills are crucial in providing safe and quality health care. When clinical and non-clinical staff and staff from different professions collaborate effectively, they can improve patient outcomes, mitigate medical errors, enhance efficiency, and elevate patient satisfaction (Rosen et al., 2018). Lack of clear and effective communication creates avenues for medical errors due to lack of vital information, information misinterpretation, unclear orders, and overlooked status changes. According to the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCHAO), medical errors are among the top 10 causes of death in the US, ranked fifth ahead of diabetes, accidents, AIDs, and Alzheimer’s disease. In my clinical setting and professional experience, poor or ineffective communication often occurs in stressful situations, when the doctor provides a lot of details or as much information as possible, as quickly as possible and leaves to attend to another patient or perform a different task. Such situations have led to missing links in the patient information, misinterpretation, or recording the wrong information because I did not hear what the doctor said correctly. The information provided in these situations is typically ambiguous. For instance, when the provider tells me the patient’s health is rapidly declining without further details. Some of the incidences of poor communication patterns have led to numerous medical errors that affect patient health outcomes.(Risk Management Comprehensive Nursing Paper Example)

Handoff communication practices include providing up-to-date patient information for patient care, treatment and service, condition, vital signs, and recent changes. Communication should be interactive to ensure those that give and receive patient information are on the same page (Clanton et al., 2018). Handoff communication can be improved through suitable protocols, staff training, established procedures, and effective technology to help prevent medical errors, enhance patient satisfaction and establish greater collaboration in the healthcare team. In most instances of ineffective communication, teamwork has been key to responding appropriately. After recognizing missing links and ambiguity in the data, I reach out to the health care team and the specific physician involved in the patient’s care. We try and fill the gaps, and when it is impossible, we conduct patient assessments again to join the links. The coming together has been effective in having multiple “good catches” and promoting patient safety.(Risk Management Comprehensive Nursing Paper Example)

References

Clanton, J., Clark, M., Loggins, W., & Herron, R. (2018). Effective handoff communication. Vignettes in patient safety. London: IntechOpen, 2, 25-44.

Rosen, M. A., DiazGranados, D., Dietz, A. S., Benishek, L. E., Thompson, D., Pronovost, P. J., & Weaver, S. J. (2018). Teamwork in healthcare: Key discoveries enabling safer, high-quality care. The American psychologist, 73(4), 433–450. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000298 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/