Enhancing Patient Safety Measures
Enhancing Patient Safety Measures
(Enhancing Patient Safety Measures)
ensure patient safety and patient falls, health and medicine homework help
Question description
Please do a paragraph about this post with this instruction .
post most have 4 or more sentences .
you also have to have a high quality post from a content perspective. This means it also needs to do more than agree with or praise a class mate. If you agree with a classmate, explain why, give an example, share what you learned in the readings
Evidence based practice, patient safety, standards of care, and patient satisfaction are the hot topics in healthcare today. Nurses have the responsibility to ensure patient safety and patient falls are recognized as a quality indicator that can be improved upon (Hicks, 2015). Hourly rounding was initiated at the hospital I work at to help decrease patient falls. Hourly rounding is the process of intentionally checking patients at regular intervals through the day with the purpose of meeting the patient’s needs. The main components of hourly rounding include addressing the four “P’s”, pain, potty, position, and proximity of possessions. Nurses are also to check the room for safety issues and inform the patient when staff will return (Timothy, 2015). A study was completed using an integrative review method summarizing independent studies to draw conclusions on this subject. It showed patient falls were reduced by 50% (Hicks, 2015). By implementing this procedure in the hospital there has been a reduction in patient falls, along with a decrease in call bell usage which also decreases interruptions in nursing care, and increased patient satisfaction scores due to patients feeling they now get constant attention.
Another area of improvement recognized was bedside shift report to improve patient safety through good communication. One of the Joint Commissions National patient safety goals is improving upon the effectiveness of communication (Sand-Jecklin, & Sherman, 2014). In a study done at a large University Hospital, seven medical-surgical units implemented a blend of recorded and bedside nursing report. This study showed many benefits which included patients feeling more informed about their care, an increase in patient satisfaction surveys, an increase in patient involvement in their own care, and a decrease in patient falls at shift change (Sand-Jecklin, & Sherman, 2014). The benefits for the nurses was improved teamwork, an increase in accountability, and communication improvement. When it was first implemented at the hospital I work at nursing was very reluctant about talking in front of the patients but after seeing positive results from patients and for nursing staff it has gotten much easier. In the study one negative outcome was nursing felt report was taking longer and overtime would be accrued. The study showed no increase in overtime (Sand-Jecklin, & Sherman, 2014). I personally feel that report goes much faster and smoother most of the time, and with the patient involvement nothing is forgotten. It has greatly improved our nursing and patient communication.
