Quality and Safety Improvement Assignment

Quality and Safety Improvement Assignment

Quality and Safety Improvement Assignment

            The target of all healthcare providers is to meet the utmost patient safety alongside quality. As a result, healthcare providers have made tremendous efforts to ensure that patients are safe and they receive the best healthcare quality. One of the major efforts is devising measures to reduce medication errors that have impacted patients negatively (Manias et al., 2020). While various strategies have been applied, such as technological solutions, some of the issues still persist, raising concerns. Therefore, the purpose of this assignment is to assess the level of risk for the issue of medication errors and to determine if the practicum site is a high-reliability organization.

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Medication Errors

            Medication errors have been known to be causing a negative impact on patient safety. They are among the common problems affecting patient care. Despite no common definition given to the issue, it may refer to any inappropriate medication used by healthcare professionals in handling medication (Manias et al., 2020). Medication errors are a type of medical error that occurs in the patient care setting. This problem is not only seen in large healthcare institutions, but also small clinics face these problems. This issue is important to nurses as it defines the quality and safety of the patient. Therefore, making policies that reduce medication errors are positive measure to achieving patients’ desired quality and safety.

In their study, Di Simone et al. (2019) discusses medication error as an increasing issue in many clinics. However, the study contends that various elements affect the issue. These elements include nurses’ attitudes, behavior, training needs, and knowledge as measures that can be applied to prevent medication errors. Nurses should have skills and knowledge of pharmacology and drug safety; hence, they must regularly update their knowledge to prevent medication errors.

Categories of Enterprise Risk Management

There are their main categories of enterprise risk management which include operational, financial, and strategic risks. The operational risk threatens the daily activities meant to run a company. As a result, such risks affect the normal operation of an organization. An example of an operation is a natural disaster that could damage a structure in a clinic or expose patients to additional accidents (Etges et al., 2019). The second category is financial risk. This risk affects the financial standing of an organization. These risks can be directly related to money, including financial consequences such as an increase in cost or a decline in revenue. The last category is a strategic risk. These are risks created by the decisions made in an organization.

All three categories of risks apply to my project. As discussed earlier, medication errors are a common problem that affects healthcare organizations in varying measures. An operation risk will increase the threat to patient safety within the healthcare institution. Natural disasters increase disorganization within the system, resulting in additional errors that could expose patients to increased danger. On the other hand, financial risks affect medication risk because it limits the organization from investing in modern technology that can reduce medication errors (Etges et al., 2019). Strategic risks also affect the solution to the issue of medication errors. These are human errors that can be reduced to improve the quality of patient care. The decisions made to affect the operation of an organization need to include effective ways of reducing errors among healthcare professionals. These actions would create a better culture of error medication in healthcare that aids in mitigating different forms of risks facing healthcare providers.

How the Project Aids in Mitigating these Risks

Improving the quality and safety of patients by reducing medication errors helps healthcare providers mitigate the three risks mentioned above. Medication errors can be solved using various strategies that would have a direct effect on these risks. One of them is using recent technology in administering medication to patients. Technologies such as using the barcode system to identify medications would ensure that each patient receives the correct medication (Thomson et al., 2018). As a result, more patients would seek medical attention from the clinic because of the quality of patient care. The increase in patients would as well increase income and enable healthcare organizations to attain significant financial strength. In doing so, healthcare organization would advance their operations and strategic plans to meet the desired patient outcome. The other possible ways of mitigating these risks are by offering a structured education offered to patients to equip them with skills and knowledge on medication use in terms of doses, adherence, and times. This would eliminate human error that further resulting in improved care.

A High-Reliability Organization

            A high-reliability organization (HRO) is a type of organization that faces low accidents or events of harm compared to the general accident projection despite them operating in high-risk environments. The HRO is an organizational strategy used to mitigate risks and achieve safety, quality, and efficiency objectives. A high-reliability organization is defined by the culture of collective mindfulness (Cantu et al., 2020). This culture ensures that all workers look for and report various issues that could make the environment unsafe. The reporting process gives an organization an effective way of fixing the problem. The HRO approach changes the thinking on patient safety through five main principles. These principles include increased awareness of relevant processes and systems, accepting the complexity of their work, seeing misses as additional opportunities, valuing insights from staff, and being resilient. These principles open the thinking of professionals in healthcare delivery, allowing them to put the demands of patients above their demands.

Is Practicum Site a High-reliability Organization?

            My practicum site is not an HRO because of the increased incidents of medication errors that increases the risks of patient care at the clinic. However, it has an increased potential to apply the HRO approach in changing the operation at the clinic. The nurse managers are flexible to any change that would positively impact the issues the clinic faces. Besides, developing a culture of mindfulness would be the most effective way of mitigating current risks at the organization and increasing patient safety (Serou et al., 2021). For example, implementing solutions for medication errors may have ethical implications. Implementing the barcode system would eliminate the potential harm caused by administration errors.

            My practicum site will attain the HRO level after ensuring a better system of reducing the operational, strategic, and financial risks, which are the most issues affecting change at the facility. The increased attention to raising nurse awareness and making decisions with the nurses in mind can accelerate the implementation of the HRO approach (Serou et al., 2021). This process would improve the quality and safety of patients.

Conclusion

Patient safety and quality improvement are some of the most targeted patient outcomes in healthcare. As such, healthcare providers have been keen on effective ways of mitigating risks that affect healthcare delivery in one way or another. Medication errors are common in the care environment. They lead to various adverse patient outcomes hence a need to reduce and eliminate them. Therefore, solving medication errors assists healthcare organizations in mitigating other related risks.

References

Cantu, J., Tolk, J., Fritts, S., & Gharehyakheh, A. (2020). High Reliability Organization (HRO) systematic literature review: Discovery of culture as a foundational hallmark. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 28(4), 399-410. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-5973.12293

Di Simone, E., Giannetta, N., Auddino, F., Cicotto, A., Grilli, D., & Di Muzio, M. (2018). Medication errors in the emergency department: knowledge, attitude, behavior, and training needs of nurses. Indian journal of critical care medicine: peer-reviewed, official publication of Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine, 22(5), 346. https://doi.org/10.4103%2Fijccm.IJCCM_63_18.

Etges, A. P. B. D. S., de Souza, J. S., Kliemann Neto, F. J., & Felix, E. A. (2019). A proposed enterprise risk management model for health organizations. Journal of Risk Research, 22(4), 513-531. https://doi.org/10.1080/13669877.2017.1422780

Manias, E., Kusljic, S., & Wu, A. (2020). Interventions to reduce medication errors in adult medical and surgical settings: a systematic review. Therapeutic Advances In Drug Safety, 11, 2042098620968309. https://doi.org/10.1177/2042098620968309

Serou, N., Sahota, L. M., Husband, A. K., Forrest, S. P., Slight, R. D., & Slight, S. P. (2021). Learning from safety incidents in high-reliability organizations: a systematic review of learning tools that could be adapted and used in healthcare. International Journal for Quality in Health Care, 33(1), mzab046. https://doi.org/10.1093/intqhc/mzab046

Thompson, K. M., Swanson, K. M., Cox, D. L., Kirchner, R. B., Russell, J. J., Wermers, R. A., … & Naessens, J. M. (2018). Implementation of barcode medication administration to reduce patient harm. Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Innovations, Quality & Outcomes, 2(4), 342-351. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mayocpiqo.2018.09.001

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The purpose of this assignment is to assess the level of risk for the issue of focus in the practicum project and to determine if the practicum site is a high-reliability organization.

Include the following in a 1,000-1,250 word paper:

Briefly describe your quality/safety improvement project.
Assess the 13 categories of enterprise risk management, as mentioned by Beaudin and Pelletier (2018) in the textbook. Provide the rationale why each category does or does not apply to your project.
Describe how the practicum project will help to mitigate one or more of these risks.
Discuss what a high-reliability organization is.
Describe why it is important for high-reliability organizations to be mindful.
Explain whether the practicum site is a high-reliability organization. Provide your rationale.
APA format is not required for the body of this assignment, but solid academic writing is expected. All citations and references must be written in APA format.

This assignment uses a rubric. Review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. A link to the LopesWrite technical support articles is located in Class Resources if you need assistance.