Accountability of Nursing Professionals
Running head: ACCOUNTABILITY OF NURSING PROFESSIONALS
Accountability of Nursing Professionals
Accountability of Nursing Professionals
Errors pervade in our lives whether it is our home, in our workplace, or in our society. The effects of healthcare errors have impacted all our lives either directly or indirectly. Patient safety and quality care are at the core of healthcare system which strongly depends upon nurses. “To achieve goals in patient safety and quality, thereby improve healthcare, nurses must assume the leadership role. Nurses need to ensure that they and other healthcare providers center healthcare on patients and their families. Even though the quality and safety of healthcare is heavily influenced by the complex nature of healthcare and multiple other factors, nurses have been held accountable for harm to patients, even when other clinicians and other healthcare providers and characteristics of the care system in which they work often have- almost without exceptions- greater roles and in some respects have ensured that an error would happen” (Patient Safety and Quality, 2008, p. 6).
“Evidence based practice is the combination of individual, clinical or professional expertise with the best available external evidence to produce practices that is most likely to lead to positive outcomes for a patient ” (Integration Of Evidence, 2011, p. 1). The evidence should be used in clinical decision making whenever possible in order to improve quality of care. Findings from research continue to provide information about how some patients are not receiving the quality of care and how errors continue to adversely impact patient outcomes. Sources for evidence based practice are not limited to research findings. Sources can include clinical experience, quality improvement data, logical reasoning, client satisfaction and situation.
If a patient is not assessed accurately, the wrong intervention will be selected which can harm the patient. Medication errors
Accountability of Nursing Professionals
Accountability of Nursing Professionals
Errors pervade in our lives whether it is our home, in our workplace, or in our society. The effects of healthcare errors have impacted all our lives either directly or indirectly. Patient safety and quality care are at the core of healthcare system which strongly depends upon nurses. “To achieve goals in patient safety and quality, thereby improve healthcare, nurses must assume the leadership role. Nurses need to ensure that they and other healthcare providers center healthcare on patients and their families. Even though the quality and safety of healthcare is heavily influenced by the complex nature of healthcare and multiple other factors, nurses have been held accountable for harm to patients, even when other clinicians and other healthcare providers and characteristics of the care system in which they work often have- almost without exceptions- greater roles and in some respects have ensured that an error would happen” (Patient Safety and Quality, 2008, p. 6).
“Evidence based practice is the combination of individual, clinical or professional expertise with the best available external evidence to produce practices that is most likely to lead to positive outcomes for a patient ” (Integration Of Evidence, 2011, p. 1). The evidence should be used in clinical decision making whenever possible in order to improve quality of care. Findings from research continue to provide information about how some patients are not receiving the quality of care and how errors continue to adversely impact patient outcomes. Sources for evidence based practice are not limited to research findings. Sources can include clinical experience, quality improvement data, logical reasoning, client satisfaction and situation.
If a patient is not assessed accurately, the wrong intervention will be selected which can harm the patient. Medication errors
References: Hughes, Ronda. (2008). Patient Safety and Quality: An Evidence-Based Handbook of Nurses. Maryland: AHRQ Publication. Scott. (n.d.) Integration Of Evidence-Based Practice Into Professional Nursing Practice. Retrieved on February 17, 2011, from http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Integration-Of-Evidence- Based-Practice-Into-Professional/565941 University of California at San Francisco. (2001). Making Health Care Safer: A Critical Analysis of Patient Safety Practices [Electronic version]. Retrieved February 17, 2011, from http://archive.ahrq.gov/clinic/ptsafety/pdf/ptsafety.pdf