Patient Safety Essay

Nonetheless, patients are not as safe as they should be, as accidents, errors, and deaths continue to occur, despite continued improvements. According to the Leapfrog Group (2013), hospital errors harm up to 440,000 people annually, and of those harmed, 180,000 die because of preventable errors. This figure is analogous to a jet crashing every day and killing everyone aboard. Often left out of the discussion of patient safety is involving the patients themselves in the effort to reduce…

an additional check before a medication is administered to the patient. The use of this technology is also geared towards ensuring medical errors are prevented. Similar to other medication administration or scanning technologies, barcode administration or scanning helps in dealing with drug administration in cases with no double checks and addressing high-risk medications. The other goals of this technology is promoting patient safety, dealing with intravenous administration of medication, and…

where in 1999, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) reported that medical errors resulted in roughly 98,000 deaths per year, becoming the eighth leading cause of death for patients (Phillips-Bute, 2012). While this number is very alarming, the amount of public concern toward medical errors are nearly nonexistent, resulting in patients having little understanding of their rights when their health is negatively impacted due to a medical error. A medical error exists when there is an action or decision…

change and toxic behaviors Toxic behaviors in the workplace have the potential to arise during moments of change. They are often associated with miscommunication and loss of control, which result in emotional burnout, high turnover, patient safety events and poor patient outcomes. These behaviors are not acceptable and should not be tolerated. Nurse leaders have a responsibility to control and even eradicate these toxic behaviors. Nurse leaders must collaborate with other multidisciplinary…

an integral part of our team! The Security Officer provides a safe and secure environment for all patients, associates, and visitors; protects Medical Center buildings, assets and property. Our Security Officers will exemplify our standards of service excellence, including a commitment to consistently demonstrate "Always Behaviors" of caring for each other, caring compassionately for our patients and their families, communicating with a positive attitude, growing professionally, and…

important so that way healthcare facilities realize what issues arise because of medical errors. Harming patients is not a good thing, so healthcare facilities need to act and make a positive change in the healthcare environment. As I stated above, I do believe that it is important to incorporate training sessions in healthcare facilities so that individuals learn tips to increase patient safety. Using the rewarding system is one technique that can help deal with medical errors, so if healthcare…

mistake that makes us inhuman; rather it is when we do not acknowledge a mistake and learn from it AND when we are unable or unwilling to apologize that we lose our humanity. The story of Lewis Blackman makes make contemplate how I will encounter patients and families WHEN I do make a…

Railroad crossings are all over America, in small towns, big cities and being smart and aware when around railroad crossings is the most important thing to remaining safe. Trains are large, heavy and can’t steer, they must follow the track they are on and in an emergency, the only thing a conductor can do is apply the brakes and wait for the train to stop. It can take up to a mile or more for a train to come to a complete stop. Trains ALWAYS have the right of way. In any situation no matter…

component to having an effective organizational culture because they set the tone for high quality of care and safety measures (Joshi et al., 2014). The organizational culture at this hospital is lacking in many areas as evidenced by the amount of medical errors. This hospital indicates a lack of effective leadership because the staff has a poor focus on the importance of patient safety. This indicates lack of education and training since the staff did not follow…

assigned to a patient. Intern’s, resident’s, fellow’s, attending’s, new nurses, experienced nurses and other health care providers are all a part of a patient’s care team. The parents of these children tend to be available and present for the greater part of every day and they want to be part of the team caring for their child. Empowering parents goes a long way in effectively executing patient-centered care, honoring cultural and ethnic beliefs and better, deeper communication about the patient…