General Organizational Safety and Quality Best Practices

Stalter, A. M., & Mota, A. (2017). Recommendations for promoting quality and safety in health care systems. The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 48(7), 295-297. https://doi-org.library.capella.edu/10.3928/00220124-20170616-04

This article refers to how to promote quality and safety education to nurses that provide direct

patient care. It focuses on a system thinking awareness where the main prevention is medication errors. Based on the article, medication errors are the third leading cause of death in the United States. Therefore, whether you are a nurse leader or professional development practitioner in a health care facility, it is highly probable that you, a peer, your staff or health care team, or your employer have witnessed, contributed to, or made an error. As result, the author has recommended the identification and application of best practice to decrease medication errors and improve quality care. Using the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) competencies and system thinking, it is significant to improve the quality and safety of the healthcare system. According to the article, the QSEN competencies have been inserted into nursing system through the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Essentials. The main is to well prepare nurses to enhance the quality and safety of the systems for which they work. The QSEN focuses on six competencies, which are patient-centered care, teamwork and collaboration, evidence-based practice, quality improvement, safety, and informatics. This article shows how nurse leaders and professional development practitioners can work as helpers to the direct care nurse in the prevention of errors.

Haxby, E., & Shuldham, C. (2018). How to undertake a root cause analysis investigation to improve patient safety. Nursing Standard (2014+), 32(20), 41. https://doi-org.library.capella.edu/10.7748/ns.2018.e10859

This article summarizes the phases of the investigation method for carrying out a root cause analysis. In this article, the author explains a root cause analysis, why it is important and how it is used to determine patient safety incidents. according to the article, incidents that require a root cause analysis involve the sudden death of a patient, serious pressure ulcers, falls that result in injury, some infections condition, and medication errors. Furthermore, the article assists the reader about the step to undertake a root cause analysis after a patient safety incident has occurred. The processes of root cause analysis investigation are first to get started by reading the healthcare policies and procedures. Who to involve in the investigation, how long the investigation will take, and the completion of the investigation report. After this knowledge then the investigator can start gathering and mapping the information. Thirdly, he or she evaluates the report to distinguish contributory factors and root causes. According to the author, this finding will help to create recommendations and solutions to the problem. In addition, the investigator will implement solutions to prevent the same incident from happening again. Finally, she or he will write the investigation report and continue to implement solutions and monitor progress.

Rohde, E., & Domm, E. (2018). Nurses’ clinical reasoning practices that support safe medication administration: An integrative review of the literature. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 27(3-4), e402-e411. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.14077

In this article, the author talks about the clinical reasoning practices that support safe medication administration. The authors mentioned how the literature of clinical reasoning and practice has less attention in reducing medication errors. According to the article, using The Johns Hopkins Nursing Evidence-Based Practice Rating Scale, they have accessed health records and did thorough research to report nurses' clinical reasoning practices that supported safe medication administration. Based on their studies about clinical reasoning, 10/11 uses clinical reasoning inadequately. Whereas nurses have the main duty in administrating medication correctly. Therefore, it is important that nurses have knowledge and use clinical reasoning to support safe medication practice.