The need for safety and quality enhancement initiatives pervades the health care system. In the course of providing medical services, mistakes occur and these may negatively affect patient outcomes. To ensure that these errors do no reemerge, an improvement plan must be in place. Thus, the goal of this improvement plan tool kit is to sustain and execute enhancements procedures within the health care system.
General Organizational Safety and Quality Best Practices
McCarthy, B., Fitzgerald, S., O’Shea, M., Condon, C., Hartnett-Collins, G., Clancy, M., Sheehy, A., Denieffe, S., Bergin, M., & Savage, E. (2018). Electronic nursing documentation interventions to promote or improve patient safety and quality care: A systematic review. Journal of Nursing Management, 27(3), 491-501. Web.
The document analyzes electronic documentation interventions in terms of their impacts in the improvement or promotion of patient safety and quality care in acute hospital environments. The authors utilize various evidences to deduce their conclusions concerning the general hospital safety and quality best practices. In the implementation process, nurses would be able to improve the security and privacy of patients. Electronic documents reduce have safeguards that ensure that there are no violations, since only a specific group can access patient data. When the need arises to use these measures, nurses without access can approach those with the necessary patient details to access the files.
Fagan, K. M., & Hodgson, M. J. (2017). Under-recording of work-related injuries and illnesses: An OSHA priority. Journal of Safety Research, 60, 79-83. Web.
The aim of this article is to identify the different policies that result in under-recording illnesses and injuries. The document identifies employer medical management and disciplinary programs as causes of under-recording. Recording keeping is an essential part of the care giving process because it help keeps track of patient conditions. This research can help nurses better understand how to effectively keep records for future use. Furthermore, health organizations can develop and implement policies and programs that promote record keeping. Laws that promote record keeping can be utilized to ensure that there is enough information available for future research to improve medical services for the general welfare of patients.
Kebede, M., Endris, Y., & Zegeye, D. T. (2016). Nursing care documentation practice: The unfinished task of nursing care in the University of Gondar hospital. Informatics for Health and Social Care, 42(3), 290-302. Web.
This research discusses nursing documentation and the role it plays in the field. It evaluates practices of nursing care documentation and related factors among health providers. The research finds that during the data collection, interpretation, and analysis, there was no involvement of the main funding body, except for the final process of overseeing whether the finances were used for the proposed project. To better understand how this is important for patient safety, the funding bodies need to be involved in the research process. The essence of this is that the funding institutions can ensure that the procedures can occurs efficiently and can contribute to the research process. Nurses can utilize the research data in improving patient safety services within hospitals. Additionally, funding institutions can benefit from the process by receiving the value for their money.
Environmental Safety and Quality Risks
Guirardello, E. D. (2017). Impact of critical care environment on burnout, perceived quality of care and safety attitude of the nursing team. Revista Latino-Americana de Enfermagem, 25(0). Web.
The study elaborates on the elements of the quality of care, nursing working environment, and safety attitudes measured by the pediatric units and the nursing stuff. Guirardello (2017) further evaluates the transformation of hospital indicators and quality of care. From the author’s findings, safety and quality of care was directly proportional to favorable environments. In other words, those nurses who related well with others within care institutions had lower levels of burnout and provided better care and safety services. The study can help nurses to implement safety improvements by ensuring that they make their environment a favorable one.
Chiang, H. Y., Hsiao, Y. C., & Lee, H. F. (2017). Predictors of hospital nurses’ safety practices. Journal of nursing care quality, 32(4), 359-368. Web.
Chiang et al. (2017) primarily discuss the nursing environment in terms of incidences that may cause unplanned extubations and fall prevention. The authors, in this case, are of the opinion that the nursing environment is an important factor when it comes to provision of quality care and safety. As such, they conduct different experiment to provide proof that nurses should be in a safe environment. This article is significant because it provides different examples where the nursing environment causes more falls. In this case, the researchers find that these situations reduce nurses’ performance and interfere with patient safety. The significance of the study is that individuals are able to learn about how to keep the environment of the care institutions safe. By doing so, they ensure that there is increased quality and care services to patients.
Nascimento, A., & Jesus, É. (2020). Nursing work environment and patient outcomes in a hospital context: A scoping review. JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration, 50(5), 261-266. Web.
Nascimento and Jesus (2020) research how patient outcomes relate to the nursing working environment. Their aim is to improve on the already existing literature and identify some gaps that still exist within this field. Their conclusion is that expert should continue exploring the relationship between the nursing work environment and patient results. The significance of this research is that it would help nurses improve their working environment to increase the quality of care and patient outcomes. The continuation of the exploration of the relationship between the nursing work environment and patient result is an important factor that would help care givers understand the significance the nursing environment.
Individual Strategies to Improve Personal and Team Safety
Buljac-Samardžić, M., & van Woerkom, M. (2018). Improving quality and safety of care in nursing homes by team support for strengths use: A survey study. Plos one, 13(7), e0200065. Web.
Buljac-Samardžić and van Woerkom (2018) discuss how to improve personal and team safety in terms of the workload given to nurses. The study defines team support for strength use as an individual belief in ones team to support them while they a[[ly their individual skills. The benefits this study is that nurses can use the knowledge in this article to better understand their individual strengths. As a result, they would be able to use these skills in team management and corporation. Teams are an essential part of an organization because they help individuals coordinate when it comes to performing tasks. Furthermore, teams help in reducing the workload given to nurses because there are shared duties. When appropriate, nurses can apply their individual strengths for the benefit of their teams and patients.
Kelly, L. (2020). Burnout, Compassion fatigue, and secondary trauma in nurses: Recognizing the occupational phenomenon and personal consequences of caregiving. Critical Care Nursing Quarterly, 43(1), 73-80. Web.
The article describes secondary trauma, compassion fatigue, and burnout in terms of what they cause to nurses. There are those nurses that extend their caregiving beyond medical services. This means that they become emotionally attached to some patients and, as a result, patient outcomes start to affect them. They begin to develop stress related to their jobs, thus affecting their ability to provide safe and quality care. Medical administrators can develop programs that help nurses take care of their patients without developing too much attachment to the patient. This resource is helpful in circumstance where nurses develop stress because they are attached to particular patient. The document can serve as guidance in developing programs to help nurses provide safe and quality healthcare.
Lyman, B., Gunn, M. M., & Mendon, C. R. (2020). New graduate registered nurses’ experiences with psychological safety. Journal of nursing management, 28(4), 831-839. Web.
This article is aimed at studying the psychological safety of new nurses within medical institutions. The main reason for this is that it helps in improving the personal health of new caregivers within medical institutions, the authors’ intentions were directed towards helping young nurses in acclimatizing to their new profession. The psychological health of individuals is a significant aspect of the nursing profession. It determines whether the quality of care provided is of high quality and further determines the safety of both the patient and the caregiver. The article is essential because it helps nurses understand the implications of their psychological health.
Process Best Practices for Reporting and Improving Environmental Safety Issues
McAllen, E. R., Stephens, K., Swanson-Biearman, B., Kerr, K., & Whiteman, K. (2018). Moving shift report to the bedside: An evidence-based quality improvement project. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 23(2). Web.
The article describes bedside reporting as one of the measures of improving the hospital environment for both nurses and patients. The issue, in this case, was that there were increase cases of falls within the hospital due to nurses and patients moving around. With bedside reporting, patients do not need to move around because they can report on how the feel using the materials provided besides their bed. Implementation of bedside reporting can be in circumstances where the patient is limited from movement. This is the most appropriate time to ensure that nurses reduce falls in the nursing environment. The significance of this is that nurses can increase patient outcomes and reduce hospital stays.
Redley, B., & Waugh, R. (2018). Mixed methods evaluation of a quality improvement and audit tool for nurse-to-nurse bedside clinical handover in ward settings. Applied Nursing Research, 40, 80-89. Web.
Redley and Waugh (2018) primarily discuss the quality of bedside reporting and their effectiveness in the care process. They utilize different methods to ensure that they test the essence of bedside reporting. The research confirms that these techniques are important in providing care within medical institutions. Thus, the implementation of these resources would help nurses understand and process information faster for quality care. The hospital environment would be improved because there would be less falls from patients and nurses.
Wojciechowski, E., Pearsall, T., Murphy, P., & French, E. (2016). A case review: Integrating Lewin’s theory with lean’s system approach for change. Online journal of issues in nursing, 21(2). Web.
The best practice this article describes is interpersonal collaboration in the provision of care. Interpersonal collaboration refers to the manner in which nursing professionals coordinate while providing care services. To ensure that this occurs, nursing programs must be put in place to encourage collaboration. The study utilizes a theoretical approach in describing collaboration and how it could be implemented in hospital environments. The article is important because it helps nurses understand how to collaborate with one another.