In part one of this assignment we took a closer look at medical errors, including why errors occur, and what is considered to be a medical error. Given that medical errors are now one of the top three leading causes of death in the United States, it is time to work on addressing this problem (Daniel, 2016). Nursing theory provides the “basis of understanding the reality of nursing; it enables the nurse to understand why an event happens” (McEwen & Wills, 2014, p. 413). In this paper we are going to describe how the nursing intellectual capital theory can be applied to medical errors and help to prevent them from occurring in the future; even with the demand to lower health care costs. We will be also taking a closer look at the origin of theory,
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On the economical side of the spectrum, it has been applied to nursing productivity (Hall, 2003)Click and drag to move. In the application of productivity, the theory is applied by evaluating the knowledge, skills, and the experience that a nurse holds and the impact that these factors have on patient safety and satisfaction (Hall, 2003). Nursing intellectual capital theory has also been applied to the recruitment and retention of registered nursing staff (Covell & Sidani, 2013(1)) as well as nursing research Covell & Sidani, 2013(2)). While this middle-range theory holds great promise for application within the acute care aspect of health care, there are ways that this theory can be applied to the outpatient health care …show more content…
It has been noted that with more experience and education in the subject matter that there are less errors due to clinical judgment (Hughes, 2008). The next step would be to look at the organizational support that the nurses have for continued education through seminars and conferences for example. By providing nursing staff the appropriate education in regards to medical errors, they will have a greater knowledge base of how to prevent errors from occurring (Hughes, 2008). It is also important to look at the environment in which nurses are preparing medications and equipment for procedures. By decreasing the number of interruptions, such as moving the vaccination preparation area to a quiet area within the medication room away from the phone, we can decrease the chances of the nurse preparing and administering the wrong dose of the
On the economical side of the spectrum, it has been applied to nursing productivity (Hall, 2003)Click and drag to move. In the application of productivity, the theory is applied by evaluating the knowledge, skills, and the experience that a nurse holds and the impact that these factors have on patient safety and satisfaction (Hall, 2003). Nursing intellectual capital theory has also been applied to the recruitment and retention of registered nursing staff (Covell & Sidani, 2013(1)) as well as nursing research Covell & Sidani, 2013(2)). While this middle-range theory holds great promise for application within the acute care aspect of health care, there are ways that this theory can be applied to the outpatient health care …show more content…
It has been noted that with more experience and education in the subject matter that there are less errors due to clinical judgment (Hughes, 2008). The next step would be to look at the organizational support that the nurses have for continued education through seminars and conferences for example. By providing nursing staff the appropriate education in regards to medical errors, they will have a greater knowledge base of how to prevent errors from occurring (Hughes, 2008). It is also important to look at the environment in which nurses are preparing medications and equipment for procedures. By decreasing the number of interruptions, such as moving the vaccination preparation area to a quiet area within the medication room away from the phone, we can decrease the chances of the nurse preparing and administering the wrong dose of the