A Medication error is defined as any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while the medication is under the control of the health care professional, patient, or consume. Therefore, any form of error that arrives within the healthcare system is deemed unacceptable. Now by understanding what a medication error entails, nurses are better able to place emphasis on how to prevent medication errors. It is important to prevent as many errors as possible when administering medications. Hospitals that accommodate high numbers of medication errors receive less funding and support by fellow agencies.
Research based practice is a hallmark of professional nursing as stated by (ICN)cite .Closing the Gap Moule et al states that for health practitioners to provide excellent care they must be research orientated (2011). For nurses to provide excellent care they need to be able to critically assess the quality of the research which is relevant to their practice (Freshwater and Bishop 2003) p 3. It is of paramount importance that the most up to date research and information
Our current health care culture has defined the aspect of compassion in relation to practice as an unfeasible ideal rather than a staple of practice. “The Francis report identified compassion as the key missing component in health care delivery that enabled the increased morbidity and mortality at the Stafford Hospital. It highlighted the real dangers to patient safety when compassion was found lacking” (Francis 2013). Merely acknowledging that nursing practice should embody compassion is not enough, we must exemplify compassion to our patients through our communication, care and attitudes at work. A nurse’s occupation is not only to provide care for their patients physically but also mentally.
In the following paragraphs, the grand theory of Jean Watson will be explored for its usefulness in practice. We will explore how the theory is congruent with current nursing standards and nursing interventions. Next, we will study if her theory has been tested empirically, if it is supported by research and if it is accurate. We will explore if there is evidence that her theory has been used by nursing educators, researchers, and nursing administrators. Then we will study how her theory is relevant socially and cross-culturally.
The field of nursing has evolved tremendously. According to Hiroko et al. (2014), nurses are charged with connecting updated theories with patient care for advancing the practice of nursing. Having an evidence based practice is instrumental in accomplishing this task. Research has allows new information to be gathered pertaining to different health care issues.
Empirical Referents Empirical referent studies support Watson’s theory by affirming the existence of a positive relationship between patient satisfaction and nurse caring behaviors in numerous clinical settings. Nursing education plays a significant role in the achievement the caring concept and is accentuated throughout the nurse's professional career (Labrague, Mcenroe-Petitte, Papathanasiou, Edet, & Arulappan, 2015). Patient satisfaction is a measurable component used to determine the care received from nurse clinicians. Stroehlein (2016) indicates that although there is a large constituent of many occupations, caring in the nursing occupation assumes an exceptional meaning with a higher purpose. Caring is multifaceted and comparable have determined individuals whose intention is to open the eyes of the society through rendering high quality patient care (Stroehlein, 2016).
It also clarifies nursing values and development and allows for accountability. It involves patients in co-ordinated nursing care (Feo and Kitson, 2016). The Roper, Logan and Tierney model helps nurses to focus on patient care by following the fundamental rights of maintaining independence of the ADL’s without diminishing dignity. Recognising that their knowledge, attitudes and behaviour may be influenced by biological, psychological, sociocultural, environmental and politico-economic factors and respecting their decisions in such. Overcoming and preventing illness to maintain independence is the nurses key focus in delivering patient care which follows the direction of the RLT model of nursing (Roper, Logan and Tierney, 2001).
Ganz et al. (2009) and Roddy et al. (2009) both emphasize the importance of utilizing evidence-based research in health care services. Ganz et al. (2009) research study is a quantitative study which seeks to determine what is the best evidence-based research that relates to oral care practices for ICU nurses.
It discusses the importance of detecting early warning signs and preventing the patient from going into cardiopulmonary attack. Through close monitoring, nurses are able to promote patient outcome. Also, educating the staff and detecting early signs can reduce the mortality rates. Knowing the importance of prevention is powerful as it encourages nurses to be more careful, especially with the risk population. Regarding the EOL events, the RRTs will be more aware of the lack of communication with the family and therefore will make more efforts to address end-of-life issues with family members.
CONCEPT 1-EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE IN NURSING This concept was deducted from module 2 with the topic “Concept of Evidence-based practice”. Evidenced-based nursing is a way of making decision and providing nursing care that is based on clinical issues and combine it with the most current, relevant research that is available on that issue. Evidence based nursing utilize the most up to date method of providing care, which have been proven via assessing high quality studies and statistically with significant research findings. The goal is to improve the health and safety of patient while also providing care in a cost-effective manner to improve the outcome for both the patient and the health care system at large. According to Melyn and Fineout-overholt(2005)Evidence-based practice should be a problem-solving approach to clinical practice that integrates a systematic search for critical appraisal of the most relevant evidence to answer a burning clinical question.