Assessment 1: Enhancing Quality and Safety – Medication Errors NURS-FPX4020: Improving Quality of Care and Patient Safety

Capella University

Prof Name

Month Date, Year

Enhancing Quality and Safety – Medication Errors

The health-care system is responsible for providing patients with effective, secure, and optimum health interventions. Nowadays, the health-care system is dealing with interdisciplinary challenges that are causing underperformance and patient health outcomes. One of the key challenges that invalidates the expertise and delivery of safe and effective care delivery practices to patients is medication administration mistake. The high frequency of reported clinical hazards has raised worries about the health care system’s issues, which need quick attention to organizational, management, staff, and patient concerns in order to rehabilitate the health care system’s performance.

Scenario related to a medication administration error

Louis, a 43-year-old person suffering from suspected angina pectoris discomfort, was brought to the hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU). Because of the patient’s hypertension background and present increased blood pressure, the doctor recommended an atorvastatin and β – blockers for the night duty. Following night, the patient was examined for any more complaints and was identified with epigastric pain. He was transferred to the appropriate unit, but the notes on his bed were not updated. On the same bed, a new patient, Sheila, 54, was hospitalised in the day with shortness of breath and an underlying background of hypertensive history, hyperglycemia, and cardiovascular indications. The nurse on the morning shift gave Sheila the dosages indicated to Louis, which resulted in diarrhea, nausea, and low blood sugar. This problem arose as a result of nursing staff miscommunication and negligent notes replacement (Kane-Gill et al., 2018).

Elements of quality improvement initiatives

Quality enhancements have a direct impact on healthcare performance. Quality improvements will be more efficient and effective, and the level of performance will rise. Healthcare organisation that continues to use old techniques and approaches cannot expect to improve their performance. Quality improvements provide a chance for healthcare companies to replace inefficient processes and focus on more important topics. Switching to digital records for patient health analysis, for example. You may also use the programme to keep track of things. There are quality management software solutions available for healthcare manufacturers that enable them to manage product and process quality and reduce quality concerns through standardization and industry best practices (Asensi et al., 2018).

evidence-based practice solutions to improve patient safety

In hospitals, paper is still the most popular method of documenting information about duties. This increases the danger of missing tasks, misplacing documents, and trying to manage resources during task handover at the conclusion of shifts — all of which jeopardize patient safety. Staff would have sight of all essential information, updated centrally and in real-time, if they switched from paper to a digital system. The digitalization of task management allows personnel to reclaim time formerly spent making phone calls and bleeping colleagues to find out task and patient information, hence improving patient safety. Tasks and essential information are maintained in a user-friendly platform with digital task management, allowing employees to manage their workload more effectively. Digital task management helps multidisciplinary teams to collaborate and increase communication across hospital departments, freeing up time for patient care (Marvanova et al., 2018). 

Patient flow improvements always have a favorable knock-on effect on patient safety within hospitals. In hospitals, the treatment of a patient is frequently organized using a combination of paper lists and whiteboards. Staff may obtain essential information in real-time via a secure digital task management system, making patient organisation easier and safer. Patient safety and its significance extend beyond therapeutic outcomes (Asensi et al., 2018). According to the NHS’s Patient Safety Strategy, digitalization of resources might result in “transformational advances” in enhancing patient safety. Staff have quicker access to the relevant information with real-time updates thanks to digital task management solutions, allowing them to make fully informed choices concerning patients. According to one Infinity user, employees are now spending less time react