Enhancing Patient Safety: Factors Influencing Medical Error Recovery Among Medical-Surgical Nurses

Abstract

Keeping patients safe is a core nursing duty. The dynamic nature of the healthcare environment requires that nurses practice to the full extent of their education, experience, and role to keep patients safe. Research has focused on error causation rather than error recovery, a process that occurs before patient harm ensues. In addition, little is known about the role nurses play in error recovery. A descriptive cross-sectional, correlational study using a sample of 184 nurses examined relationships between nurse characteristics, organizational factors, and recovery of medical errors among medical-surgical nurses in hospitals. In this article, we provide background information to introduce the concept of error recovery, and present our study aims and methods. Study results suggested that medical-surgical nurses recovered on average 22 medical errors and error recovery was positively associated with education and expertise. The discussion section further considers the important role of medical-surgical nurses and error recovery to enhance patient safety. In conclusion, we suggest that creating a safer healthcare system will depend on the ability of nurses to fully use their education, expertise and role to identify, interrupt, and correct medical errors; thereby, preventing patient harm.

Evaluation of Electronic Health Record–Generated Work Intensity Scores and Nurse Perceptions of Workload Appropriateness

“…In a primary care nursing model, the nurse-patient assignment specifies the set of patients for whom an on-duty RN will assume primary responsibility for nursing care delivery during a work shift. Numerous US states have enacted legislation that require hospitals to maintain staffing plans, specific minimum nurse-to-patient ratios, or other forms of public reporting, as resource insufficiency is associated with missed nursing care, 1,2 decreased quality of work performance, 3 staff burnout, 4 and reduced ability to detect and correct system failures, 5 bone fractures, 6 and patient mortality. 7 Sustaining high-quality care across variable demand 8,9 requires dynamic awareness of the balance between patient needs and staff capacity.…”

Using Simulation in First Year Nursing Student Curriculum to Improve Dosage Calculations

“…Hughes and Belgen (2008) found that nurses spend 40% of their shift focused on medication administration. Nurses play an essential role in preventing patient harm by using their education and expertise to identify and correct medication errors (Gaffney et al, 2016). Nurses play a key role in improving patient safety in applying safeguard measures (Gaffney et al, 2016).…”

“…Nurses play an essential role in preventing patient harm by using their education and expertise to identify and correct medication errors (Gaffney et al, 2016). Nurses play a key role in improving patient safety in applying safeguard measures (Gaffney et al, 2016). There has been a national focus on reducing medication errors with increased research and prevention strategies; however, little progress has been made.…”

“Attempting to protect self and patient”: A grounded theory study of error recovery by intensive care nurses

“…Error correction or countering focuses on corrective measures to neutralize error effects such as revising care plan, using a new care plan or referring to specialists. Successful ER prevents patient damage, while unsuccessful ER is associated with adverse consequences (Gaffney, Hatcher, Milligan, & Trickey, 2016 ; Van der Schaaf et al, 1992 ). ER is a psychosocial process affected by many different personal factors such as knowledge, judgement, experience and critical thinking skills and social factors such as organizational culture (Theresa Adcock Gaffney, 2015 ).…”

“…Successful ER prevents patient damage, while unsuccessful ER is associated with adverse consequences (Gaffney, Hatcher, Milligan, & Trickey, 2016 ; Van der Schaaf et al, 1992 ). ER is a psychosocial process affected by many different personal factors such as knowledge, judgement, experience and critical thinking skills and social factors such as organizational culture (Theresa Adcock Gaffney, 2015 ). This is an effective process to ensure patient safety and manage errors and can lead to the development of effective strategies for identifying and correcting errors and empowering organizations for reducing the adverse effects of errors such as disability and death.…”