Please reply to William Polanco – Please note minimum of 200 words. Please cite one scholarly source. In-text citation should be included.
The establishment of the Joint Commission and their set of rules for Patient Safety, the National Patient Safety Goals came about in 2003. The rules have been created to raise the bar on patient safety and prevent mistakes in easily avoidable situations (Nickitas et al, 2020). In my position as a circulator in an OR in an Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC), it is my responsibility to help maintain the level of vigilance and safety for the patient. The first one that I follow is NPSG .01.01.01 to identify patients correctly. I follow this rule by using two ways to identify a patient, using their name and date of birth. Beginning with the correct patient is first and foremost a priority. As per the writing of (Munnich and Parente, 2017) surgery at ASC has grown by over 60 percent in the years from 1981 to 2011, from 3.7 million to over 32.0 million. A big reason is that it is generally considered cheaper and quicker to have surgery performed at an ASC, versus an inpatient hospital setting. The one that I have to promote every day working is UP.01.01.01, UP.01.02.01, and UP.01.03.01. Universal Protocol 01.01.01 is to make sure the correct surgery is done on the correct patient and at the correct place on the patient body. 01.02.01 marks the correct place on the patient’s body where the surgery is to be done. And lastly, UP.01.03.01 states to pause before the surgery to make sure that a mistake is not being made. Performing what is called a time out, reviewing the basics that need to be reviewed, gone over, patient’s name, dob, procedure to be performed, location of surgery, any allergies that they may have, and confirmation and agreement by all persons in the room. I take the responsibility seriously and make sure it is done diligently. Many of the surgeons that work at my facility are quick to move ahead with the next case. They forget they have a responsibility to the patient’s safety. It is my job to keep each patient safe and although the savings for the operation is better than having the surgery done at a hospital, they must adhere to safety protocols. Saving of money and time takes a back seat when patients are placed at an unnecessary risk for injury that could be prevented. I enjoy my work and work for the patients I see everyday, keeping them safe and advocating for them as I should.
Nickitas, D.M., Middaugh, D.J., Feeg, V. D. (2020). Policy and Politics for nurses and other health professionals: Advocacy and action. Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Munnich, E. L., & Parente, S. T. (2014). Procedures take less time at ambulatory surgery centers, keeping costs down and ability to meet demand up. Health Affairs, 33(5), 764-9. Retrieved from https://libproxy.library.unt.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/procedures-take-less-time-at-ambulatory-surgery/docview/1525958735/se-2
Please reply to Georgelene Humberg – Please note minimum of 200 words. Please cite one scholarly source. In-text citation should be included.
The National Patient Safety Goals (NPSGs) was developed in 2002 to help identify specific areas of concern regarding patient safety for accredited organizations. The Joint Commission determines the highest priority patient safety issues from input from practioners, provider organizations, purchasers, consumer groups, and other stakeholders (The Joint Commission, 2021). They were developed to ensure patient safety and help reduce errors. For January 2022, the Joint Commission addressed seven goals to help some of the most problematic areas of patient safety.
The first goal the Joint Commission addressed that were a concern for 2022, was to improve the accuracy of patient identification. The importance of correct patient identification is crucial to the patient’s safety to prevent errors and serious harm to patients. Healthcare facilities are big and busy with the potential of human errors and miscommunication. In research with 712 hospitals in the United States, 2,463,727 identification wristband and 67,289 (2.7%) of errors were identified, of which, 49.5% were due to the absence of ID bands (DeRezende, et al, 2019). The goal was to have at least two positive patient identifiers. The first identifier is the patient receiving service or treatment, this can be done by patient stating their name, date-of-birth, medical record number or other person-specific identifier. The second part was to match the correct treatment or service for the patient receiving the service.
Past Joint Commission goals showed that correct patient identification have been a concern and first goal in the past years of collecting patient research. The numbers show that nurses and other people who support the patient always need to find a system to correctly identify the patient and the services rendered to them. Hospitals are busy and stressful areas, nurses are often understaffed, and overworked. It may take a few minutes longer to correctly identify a patient, it is simple and easy task, yet nurses still make human errors and patient safety are always at risk for potential harm. Mandated yearly training should be offered to every member of the healthcare team to reduce this basic step. Managers should encourage nurses to get involved in Shared Governance in their hospital. Hospital systems should also encourage members of the team to practice self-care to help reduce burnout. Staff members should support one another and see other members who support the patient as a team, constantly checking on one another and checking patient identification. Every patient on the floor should be wearing an identifier wristband regardless of age or unit. Nurses need to communicate with the patient and not focus on task without taking the first step of first identifying them. It is important to address these basic issues with training and staff members should always have patient safety as a priority on the list to help reduce patient errors.
De Rezende, H., Melleiro, M., & Shimoda, G. (2019). Interventions to reduce patient
Identification errors in the hospital setting: a systematic review protocol (17: 1).
http://journals.lww.com/jbisrir/fulltext/2019/01000/interventions_to_reduce_
patient_identification.7.aspx
The Joint Commission. (2021). National Patient Safety Goals. Retrieved from http://www.
Jointcommission.org/standards/national-patient-safety-goals/-/media/b35ba0b4b975
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