NURS FPX 4020 Assessment 1 Enhancing Quality and Safety

Name

Capella university

NURS FPX 4020 Improving Quality of Care and Patient Safety

Prof. Name

Date

Enhancing Quality and Safety Improvement

Nurses play a vital role in enhancing patient quality and safety as they primarily deliver care treatments through medication administration and monitoring (Alomari et al., 2020). In Arnold Palmer Hospital, patient safety issues of patient identification errors are growing tremendously, impacting several patients regarding medication and treatment errors. Therefore, this assessment will delve into improving patient safety issues of identification errors and incorporate evidence-based solutions to promote patient safety and care coordination.

Factors leading to Specific Patient-Safety Risks

Patient safety is essential to consider while delivering healthcare services in healthcare organizations. One of the significant patient safety risks is associated with errors in patient identification as they can pose grave risks to patients, such as the provision of wrong treatment leading to health deterioration (Bell et al., 2020). Various factors contribute to the onset of patient identification errors, such as manual data entry errors, lack of standardized patient identification protocols, and incomplete or outdated Electronic Health Records (EHRs). The manual data entry of patient information can lead to misinterpretation due to illegible handwriting or typographical mistakes. These mistakes can lead to patient identification errors (Bell et al., 2020).

Inconsistent identification protocols across multiple healthcare facilities can contribute to dilemmas and mistakes. Hence, a lack of standardized procedures increases the likelihood of misidentification. Furthermore, incomplete or outdated information in EHRs can result in misidentification. This can occur when patient records are not regularly updated with accurate demographic details. Physicians are also prone to entering wrong-patient order entries, as one study relates that these errors happen for almost 600,000 patients with wrong order entries in the U.S. (Salmasian et al., 2020).

Evidence-Based Practice Solutions for Patient Identification Errors to Enhance Patient Safety and Diminish Costs

It is paramount to address patient identification errors as they can lead to poor patient safety and incidence of medication and treatment errors. For this purpose, applying evidence-based practices to avoid patient identification errors is mandatory. One of these evidence-based practice solutions is implementing barcode systems within the organization. The use of barcoding systems for patient identification has proved to reduce medication errors and enhance the rates of patient identification. One study finds that using barcode medication administration technology increased patient identification rates from 74% to 100% and reduced medication errors (Barakat & Franklin, 2020). Another strategy is integrating biometric technologies such as fingerprint or palm vein recognition to promote accurate patient identification.

Another novel biometric technique researchers utilize is iris recognition systems for correct and accurate patient identification. This solution involves acquiring patients’ iris images, storing the features as iris templates, and matching them with patients’ iris for identification (Anne et al., 2020). Lastly, it is emphasized that hospital organizations must develop standardized patient identification protocols to reduce identification errors and improve patient safety (Riplinger et al., 2020). These technologies and evidence-based strategies can potentially increase patient safety by reducing identification errors. Moreover, costs can be effectively reduced by preventing costs associated with adverse events and rework due to errors (Riplinger et al., 2020).

Role of Nurses in Improving Patient Safety and Reducing Costs

Nurses have an enormous role in care coordination to facilitate patient safety and limit costs mainly related to risks leading to patient identification errors. They can ensure adherence to patient identification protocols during various healthcare interactions such as admissions, medication administration, and specimen collection.

For example, implementing the “two-patient identifier” rule, where nurses consistently use at least two unique identifiers for patients, such as names and birth dates, before administrating medications, helps reduce the risk of patient identification errors during medication administration (Simamora, 2020). Nurses can actively use technologies such as barcoding systems during their daily tasks to ensure accurate patient identification. For example, scanning a patient’s wristbands and medication barcodes before administering medications helps verify patient identity and medication match, which reduces the likelihood of errors (Owens et al., 2020).

Nurses can encourage patients and their family members to participate in their care by verifying their own identities and information. Patient safety is enhanced by educating patients to confirm their names and birthdates during interactions with healthcare providers, as empowered patients perform additional layers of identification (Simamora, 2020). Lastly, nurses can contribute to quality improvement initiatives to identify and mitigate patient identification risks within their healthcare settings. For example, by participating in root cause analysis following a patient identification error incident, nurses help assess system weakness and enable the implementation of corrective actions to prevent similar errors in the future (Vaismoradi et al., 2020). By coordinating care with relevant stakeholders, nurses can perform strategies to reduce identification errors and reduce costs associated with medication errors and adverse events due to misidentified patient cases (Simamora, 2020).

Nurses’ Collaboration with Other Stakeholders

Nurses must coordinate and collaborate with relevant stakeholders to adequately and appropriately address patient identification errors to enhance patient safety and reduce associated costs. The identified stakeholders for this purpose will be physicians, pharmacists, Health Information Technology (HIT) professionals, quality improvement teams, and hospital administrators. Physicians and pharmacists are involved in prescribing and dispensing medication. Coordinating with them ensures alignment in patient identification protocols and reinforces a shared commitment to accuracy. For this purpose, it is essential to communicate with these stakeholders clearly in standardizing identification processes during patient encounters and reducing the risks of errors due to misidentification (Alomari et al., 2020).

HIT professionals are responsible for implementing and maintaining EHR systems and technology solutions. Nurses must collaborate with IT officers to ensure the proper functioning of patient identification technologies, such as barcoding systems and biometric tools, to reduce manual errors and enhance accuracy in patient identification. They will also need to coordinate with quality improvement teams as their primary goal is to identify and mitigate risks to overall safety and quality of care (Alomari et al., 2020).

Nurses can effectively collaborate with QI officers to address the root causes of identification errors and implement required procedures and technologies. Hospital administrators will set policies for the safe and accurate identification of patients and allocate resources to integrate required technologies or processes. Nurses can coordinate with hospital leadership to garner support for patient safety initiatives and raise awareness about prevailing causes of identification errors. Together, they can foster a culture that prioritizes accurate patient identification for the safety of patients (Owens et al., 2020).

Conclusion

The patient identification errors at Arnold Palmer Hospital require the implementation of evidence-based solutions like barcoding systems, standardized procedures, and biometric technologies. Patient identification errors are encountered due to numerous factors that increase patient safety risks. In this regard, the nurse’s role becomes crucial and mandatory to improve patient safety and reduce costs. This also requires coordinating with other relevant stakeholders to ensure accurate patient identification using unique patient identifier approaches.

References

Alomari, A., Sheppard‐Law, S., Lewis, J., & Wilson, V. (2020). Effectiveness of clinical nurse’s interventions in reducing medication errors in a pediatric ward. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 29(17-18), 3403–3413. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.15374

Anne, N., Dunbar, M. D., Abuna, F., Simpson, P., Macharia, P., Betz, B., Cherutich, P., Bukusi, D., & Carey, F. (2020). Feasibility and acceptability of an iris biometric system for unique patient identification in routine HIV services in Kenya. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 133, 104006. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2019.104006

Barakat, S., & Franklin, B. D. (2020). An evaluation of the impact of barcode patient and medication scanning on nursing workflow at a UK teaching hospital. Pharmacy, 8(3), 148. https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmacy8030148

Bell, S. K., Delbanco, T., Elmore, J. G., Fitzgerald, P. S., Fossa, A., Harcourt, K., Leveille, S. G., Payne, T. H., Stametz, R. A., Walker, J., & DesRoches, C. M. (2020). Frequency and types of patient-reported errors in electronic health record ambulatory care notes. JAMA Network Open, 3(6), e205867. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.5867

Owens, K., Palmore, M., Penoyer, D., & Viers, P. (2020). The effect of implementing bar-code medication administration in an emergency department on medication administration errors and nursing satisfaction. Journal of Emergency Nursing, 46(6), 884–891. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jen.2020.07.004

Riplinger, L., Piera-Jiménez, J., & Dooling, J. P. (2020). Patient identification techniques – approaches, implications, and findings. Yearbook of Medical Informatics, 29(1), 81–86. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7442501/

Salmasian, H., Blanchfield, B. B., Joyce, K., Centeio, K., Schiff, G. B., Wright, A., Baugh, C. W., Schuur, J. D., Bates, D. W., Adelman, J. S., & Landman, A. B. (2020). Association of display of patient photographs in the electronic health record with wrong-patient order entry errors. JAMA Network Open, 3(11), e2019652. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.19652