Improving Medication Safety and Nursing Care Essay

Patient safety is one of the key aspects of healthcare delivery and a critical component in determining the quality of healthcare services. Patient safety is influenced by many factors including medication safety, which is identified as one of the most common type of errors in nursing practice (Getnet & Bifftu, 2017). Given the increased focus on patient safety and better outcomes, nurses face the need to enhance medication safety and nursing care. However, the healthcare environment is characterized by numerous interruptions that could compromise medication safety and nursing care. Nurses experience different kinds of interruptions in their work including during medication administration. Therefore, reduction of interruptions in nursing work is vital to improve medication safety and nursing care. This quality improvement project demonstrates how this can be achieved by using Plan-Do-Study-Act methodology.

Problem Statement

Patient safety is widely recognized as a crucial component that influences the quality of care, which in turn affects patient outcomes. As a result, nurses face the need to enhance patient safety while providing care to diverse patient populations. Nursing staff play a vital role in improving patient safety since they are involved in direct care and support to patients and their families (Monteiro, Avelar & Pedreira, 2015). Despite its significance in improved healthcare quality and patient outcomes, patient safety remains a major issue in the modern healthcare field. Patient safety is compromised by various factors that occur within and outside the healthcare environment. While nurses play a critical role in promoting patient safety, their work is characterized by numerous interruptions. Nurses encounter various interruptions when carrying out nursing work, which in turn threatens patient safety and the quality of care. Healthcare organizations have established various measures to help enhance the quality of care. However, many organizations lack proper policies and practices to prevent interruptions during nursing work. Such interruptions continue to be the cause of medication errors and other mistakes in nursing care. In most cases, patient care measures focus on direct care practices but fail to address interruptions in nursing work to improve medication safety and nursing care.

Research Question

This quality improvement project seeks to…

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…In comparison to a nursing theoretical model, PDSA promotes action-oriented learning when conducting a quality improvement project. On the contrary, a nursing theoretical model focuses on providing a theoretical foundation for nursing practice. This implies that the application of a nursing theoretical model is a relatively complex process in comparison to PDSA cycle. Some of the benefits of using PDSA methodology in comparison to a nursing theoretical model include structured experimental learning in which changes are tested prior to full implementation (Taylor et al., 2013). Additionally, PDSA incorporates different steps that are carried out systematically and comprehensively unlike a nursing theoretical model.

In conclusion, patient safety is at the core of initiatives to enhance the quality of healthcare services. Patient safety incorporates different components including medication administration and nursing care activities. Nursing work is characterized by various interruptions that compromise medication safety and nursing care. The proposed intervention to improve medication safety and nursing care through reduction of interruptions in nursing work is an Interruption Intervention comprising three elements. The intervention, which was implemented in a systematic and comprehensive…