Scenario For this assessment, you may choose from the following options as the subject of a root-cause analysis and safety improvement plan: The specific safety concern identified in your previous assessment about medication administration safety concerns. The readings, case studies, or a personal experience in which a sentinel event occurred surrounding an issue or concern with medication administration. Instructions

Improvement Plan with Evidence-Based and Best-Practice Strategies

From the RCA, the leading causes of MAEs can be summarized as lack of professional collaboration, knowledge on medications, distractions, poor communication, and work pressure due to inadequate staffing. Therefore, the evidence-based improvement plan will employ strategies that improve interprofessional communication and collaboration, nurse knowledge of medication, and the work environment, including the staffing level. Galatzan (2019) suggested reducing miscommunication during shift hand-off and transfer of care as an essential approach to reducing medical errors in healthcare settings. Although Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) strategies utilize research and proven approaches to decision-making and solving problems and improve the quality and safety of care services, the efficiency of nurses to apply EBP is influenced by their readiness for EBP, EBP knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, skills, and the organizational culture (Rahmayanti et al., 2020). Therefore, the patient safety and care quality improvement plan will also focus on shifting the hospital toward adopting and normalizing an EBP culture.

Timeline of Development and Implementation

The improvement plan links evidence-based strategies with practices within medication administration. The plan will seek to ingrain safe practices during medication administration to improve care quality and ensure patient safety. The plan will be developed and implemented over eight months to achieve this. The first two-month phase will focus on educating the participants and creating awareness of MAEs and the best practices to reduce and prevent them. The next six months will focus on establishing the proposed evidence-based practices and evaluating the plan’s progress.

Existing Organizational Resources

The success of the improvement plan is leveraged on the available organizational resources. The resources necessary for the improvement plan to reduce and prevent MAEs and improve care quality and patient safety include a willing human resource, implementation of various technologies to support communication, nurse and physician training, and medication management.

The facility has an existing electronic health records (EHR) system, which requires upgrading. The nurses and physicians will be trained to use and integrate various communication channels across the in-patient facilities into their daily care operations. Healthcare professionals like pharmacists and senior medical officers are also willing to train nurses and physician assistants on safe medication administration.

Conclusion

Errors occurring during the administration of medications jeopardize care quality and patient safety. Identifying the active causes of medication administration errors can help design and implement evidence-based solutions to reduce and avoid such mistakes. An RCA can help identify the underlying causes of MAEs. However, regardless of the evidence-based and best-practice strategies implemented, their success is determined by the nurses’ and other involved parties’ knowledge, skills, and attitudes toward the EBP strategies. Organizational resources and plans should focus on supporting the implementation of the EBP strategies and stakeholder education and training on EBP strategies.

References

Galatzan, B. J. (2019). Exploring the content of the nurse-to-nurse change of shift hand-off communication (Publication No. 27666610) [Doctoral dissertation, University of Arizona]. http://library.capella.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fdocview%2F2336369734%3Faccountid%3D27965