Professional Risk Reduction Strategies - Research Paper Example

?Professional risk reduction strategies Professional risk reduction strategies JCAHO National patient Safety Goals is the accreditedorganization aimed at addressing specific areas on safety of patients. Therefore, the organization has six National Patient Safety Goals which apply to all accredited hospitals in US. By setting up the home care and critical access hospital goals, the joint commission has taken a very important step in preventing medical errors. In critical access hospital, the goal has several mandates which facilitate the implementation of actions while in home care several goals are attached to reduction of errors in medication. However, the two goals are faced by several challenges which inhibit validity of the goals. Home care is one of the major goals of NSGP and is very vital in reducing medical errors. First, home care help improve the accuracy in identifying patients. During identification process, one has to accomplish some actions that will reduce errors in administering medication. For instance, one has to use not less than two patient identifiers during the specimen collection process and should label containers with the specimen in the presence of the patient. When one ensures that these actions are accomplished, home care can easily be realized. Thereby, the initial visit recommends that the caregiver or the patient state the correct date of birth and name of the patient. This will help in getting the correct address and one can give an alternative address. In case the patient is well known to the clinician, confirmed address and facial recognition are the acceptable identifiers (Coburn et al, 2004). In practice setting, medical errors are common in different stages of treatment and diagnosis. Furthermore, home care goal is essential as it maintains and communicates accurate patient medication details. The goal has been lagging behind in our daily setting as one has to update or obtain medication information, define the various types of medication details which are to be collected and compare and contrast medication which has been taken with order to resolve discrepancies. The goal also features the provision of written medication details when the patient decides to leave the organization’s care. It also explains the significance of managing the medication details to the intended patient. Home care as NSGP goal is fostered in its implementation through several actions in reducing medical errors. First, the goal compares the ordered with the current medication and later clarifies discrepancies that may arise with the relevant physician. The goal also focuses on the reference policies in its operation. Furthermore, all the medication details are recorded in the medical record. For instance, when a patient is discharged, a current list of medication details is printed from the PSL and handed over to the patient (Belllows et al, 2005). In addition, a letter is attached which explains the importance of updating the list and availing it to the health care providers. Later, a copy of the current medical report is left in the home with instructions about the importance of updating the list. More so, home care goal is concerned with reducing the risk of administering health care and other infections. The care is mandated with setting goals on how to improve compliance, improve compliance that is based on the established goals and comply with the hand hygiene guidelines. The goal is considered realistic as it is implemented through the UMHHC policy that was set in 2003 on hand hygiene. It also provides paper towels and waterless soaps in the various fields and controls its organization. Finally, it conducts the hand washing observation which is a compliance goal that is greater than 90 %. It also educates the staff members and presents data to UMHHC infection control services (Mann & Marcus, 2006). Home care aims at controlling the risk at which patients fall. It also assesses the risk that is incurred when patients fall. The goal implements the interventions based on risk and educates family or patients on the strategies that can be used to reduce risk of falling. To show how comprehensive the goal is, it educates the staff members and evaluates the effectiveness of carrying out these activities. The goal is realistic as OT and PT services are fully initiated for the patients who have a fall risk of greater than or equals to 10 (Gore et al, 2010). It also provides comprehensive fall information to all the new patients with the menace. The other activity that the goal does is to provide staff with the reduction program on fall during the orientation process. In addition, the fall report is forwarded to Event Tracking and interventions evaluated then recommendations applied correctly. In practice setting, falls account for a huge portion of injuries among hospitalized patients, home care recipients and long term care patients. To facilitate the implementation process, it should evaluate the risk of patients fall cases and act quickly to curb the risk of falling and injuries. In addition, home care is important as it identifies risks that are closely associated with home oxygen therapy such as home fire. The goal has the mandate to conduct oxygen risk assessment which includes operation of the smoke detectors. It is also mandated to inform and educate caregivers and patients on findings about home safety assessment, fire causes, prevention activities and possible interventions. To proof the validity of the goal, it has to critically assess and provide oxygen safety training. For instance, the HomeMed Nursing has the oxygen safety signs which are availed in homes and has provided safety booklets (Gore et al, 2010). To implement the goal, several home care organizations should assess the patients risk, come out with proper interventions and compliance. It should also carry out document safety education. In daily practice, various events in home care have been due to fire eruption in the patients’ homes. Patients were killed and injured in home fire while oxygen was in use. Therefore in administering home care goals, there are several challenges that prohibit smooth flow of accomplishing home care. First, there is a problem with identifying the levels of responsibility while communicating the intended list of the next providers. Also there is a problem getting the required list about admission from the present patients. Non-accredited pharmacists are the main hindrance as they hinder smooth medication reconciliation when there is a varied health system. Critical accessing hospital is one of the key goals of NPSG due to its efficiency in reduction of medical errors. It improves the accuracy with which identification of patients is done. To accomplish this goal, NPSG has to incorporate two patient identifiers during the provision of care, services and treatment (Mann & Marcus, 2006). While undertaking this process, one has to use two patient identifiers during administration of medicine, blood components and during collection of blood samples. Only acceptable identifiers such as the name of the individual, telephone number and the identification number are used. In addition, labeling the containers that are used for blood should be done in presence of the patient. The goal is valid as there are cases of misidentification of the patients during blood transfusion. To facilitate the implementation process of this goal, one has to match the blood components accordingly before he or she initiates blood transfusion. In the daily practice, several cases of wrong patient have been reported in all treatment and diagnostic stages. The goal also focuses on improving the effectiveness of communication among the caregivers. To critically control this, one has to report diagnostic results and tests on time. The goal has several actions involved such as developing written procedure to manage critical test results and other diagnostic procedures that address definition of critical test results and other related diagnostics. It also seeks to establish the receiver of the diagnostic report and evaluate accepted time between reporting critical results and availing diagnostics and tests. In addition, it seeks to implement the standard procedure to manage critical diagnostics and tests. In practice setting, unlabeled medications are not easily identified. Therefore, errors have occurred in medications which have been misplaced and this unsafe practice is negligence to the medication management. Thus, the goal is valid as labeling reduces risk in medication. To fully implement the goal one should focus on evaluating the timeliness in giving reports on diagnostics and tests. As an NPSG goal, critical accessing hospital focuses on improving the safety in medication usage. Thus, to accomplish this goal label all the medication containers, medications and other sterile solutions. The process of labeling in perioperative setting occurs when any solution or medication is accidentally transferred from one container to another. To avoid this, one has to verify all the medication labels both visually and verbally. Furthermore, the goal is linked with reducing the risk associated infections. This should be done through compliance with the World Health Organization hand hygiene guidelines (Bellows et al, 2005). The goal faces specific challenges for instance, there is little time allowed to search for the complete list of the patient. Therefore, NPSG are designed to fully stimulate and improve health organization activities for the safety of patients. The home care and critical access hospital are some of the goals that enforce and promote changes in the safety of patients in the world. Despite the changes, there are key elements that are used to validate each of the goals. The NSPG goals also face several challenges that hinder their smooth operations. References Bellows C, et al. (2005). Bridging the communication gap in the operating room with medical team training. American Journal of Surgery. 190:770-4. Gore D. C, et al. (2010). Crew Resource management improved perception of patient safety in the operating room. American Journal of Medical Quality, 25:60-3. Mann S, & Marcus R. (2006). Lessons from the cockpit: How team training can reduce errors on L&D. Contemporary OB/GYN, 51:34. Coburn A, et al. (2004). Assuring rural hospital patient safety: What should be the priorities? 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