Aims
The aim of this study was to determine nurses’ perceptions of supports and barriers to high‐alert medication (HAM) administration safety.
Design
A qualitative descriptive design was used.
Methods
Eighteen acute care nurses were interviewed about HAM administration practices. Registered nurses (RNs) working with acutely ill adults in two hospitals participated in one‐on‐one interviews from July–September, 2017. Content analysis was conducted for data analysis.
Results
Three themes contributed to HAM administration safety: Organizational Culture of Safety, Collaboration, and RN Competence and Engagement. Error factors included distractions, workload and acuity. Work arounds bypassing bar code scanning and independent double check procedures were common. Findings highlighted the importance of intra‐ and interprofessional collaboration, nurse engagement and incorporating the patient in HAM safety.
Conclusions
Current HAM safety strategies are not consistently used. An organizational culture that supports collaboration, education on safe HAM practices, pragmatic HAM policies and enhanced technology are recommended to prevent HAM errors.
Impact
Hospitals incorporating these findings could reduce HAM errors. Research on nurse engagement, intra‐ and interprofessional collaboration and inclusion of patients in HAM safety strategies is needed.
Background:
The global COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented challenges to the health care workforce. Little is known about the effect of the pandemic on new RNs and their preparedness for such a crisis. This study explored the lived experiences of RNs transitioning from students to professionals during the pandemic.
Method:
Semistructured interviews were conducted with 15 new RNs working in acute care facilities during the Maryland COVID-19 State of Emergency.
Results:
Three themes were identified to describe the experiences of new nurses transitioning to practice in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic: uncertainty, vulnerability, and resilience.
Conclusion:
New nurses need greater support during transition to practice. Initiatives to improve trusting relationships between new nurses and their organizations and support of the development of essential relationships (e.g., peers, frontline management, and educators) could enhance new nurses' resilience and commitment to stay with the organization.
[
J Contin Educ Nurs
. 2021;52(6):294–300.]
AIM
The aim of this study was to understand stress, resilience, and compassion satisfaction of nursing faculty during the COVID-19 pandemic and identify factors related to their job satisfaction.
BACKGROUND
The impacts of COVID-19 on faculty stress, resilience, compassion satisfaction, and job satisfaction were unknown.
METHOD
A mixed-methods survey was distributed electronically to nursing faculty in the United States.
RESULTS
Compassion satisfaction and resilience were positively correlated with job satisfaction; stress and job satisfaction were negatively correlated. Feeling safe to teach, feeling supported by administration, and spending more hours teaching online were positively associated with job satisfaction. Three themes were identified: challenges in the workplace, struggles with personal stressors, and building capacity in the face of the unknown.
CONCLUSION
Faculty reported a strong professional commitment to nursing education during the COVID-19 pandemic. Leadership that supported faculty through concern for their safety contributed to participants’ ability to respond to the challenges experienced.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.