Only through reporting errors can nurses and other health care providers learn which system design and operational failures contribute to human fallibilities and subsequently improve the quality of care.
We all strive for perfection, but nurses are humans and make mistakes from time to time. So, if you've ever made a mistake on the job, just know you're not alone. What's more, you should know what to do in case you make a mistake while providing patient care.
1. Medication Errors. Medication errors are among the most common clinical mistakes that nurses — and their patients — face.
In general, examples of unprofessional conduct include, but are not limited to, physical abuse of a patient, inadequate record keeping, not recognizing or acting upon common symptoms, prescribing drugs in excessive amounts or without legitimate reason, personal impairment (mental or physical) that hinders safely ...
Nurses believe that reporting errors negatively impact their future job appraisals and professional development due to the punitive actions taken against them. Non-punitive actions against health care professionals who report errors are recommended to improve patient safety care [22, 42, 43].
Making mistakes is normal in every aspect of life. Mistakes are unavoidable at times, and no one is perfect, even nurses! In fact, a 2010 study showed that 100% of nurses have made at least one mistake during their careers. *Disclosure: This article on do nurses get fired for med errors may contain affiliate links.
Examples include breaching nurse-patient confidentiality, theft of patient money, belongings or identity, and crossing nurse-patient professional boundaries.
“Nurses are dedicated to being truthful. Patients are then able to trust the nurse in a therapeutic relationship throughout their care. This helps put the patient at ease and helps them to move toward optimal wellness.
Filing a complaint
The most common complaints involve criminal convictions. Other complaints received by BRN pertain to: Improper patient care, such as, the RN has committed serious medication errors, abused a patient, or failed to provide appropriate care.
Medical negligence is substandard care that's been provided by a medical professional to a patient, which has directly caused injury or caused an existing condition to get worse. There's a number of ways that medical negligence can happen such as misdiagnosis, incorrect treatment or surgical mistakes.
Communication breakdowns are the most common causes of medical errors. Whether verbal or written, these issues can arise in a medical practice or a healthcare system and can occur between a physician, nurse, healthcare team member, or patient. Poor communication often results in medical errors.
A medical error is defined as the "failure of a planned action to be completed as intended or the use of a wrong plan to achieve an aim (1)." Most medical errors do not result in medical injury, although some do, and these are termed preventable adverse events.
The consequences will depend largely on the policy of your employer, and fortunately, most accept that mistakes do happen and will not dismiss an employee for a first mistake.
Fear of punishment and legal consequences in clinical practice has always been one of the barriers to error reporting. It is estimated that about 95% of medication errors are not reported due to the fear of punishment.
What to Do If Medication Errors Happen? Nurses and other hospital staff should immediately report the incident to the doctor and the nursing supervisor. Patients who suspect that their healthcare providers commit medication errors should immediately notify the doctor or nurse.
Reporting systems have been relatively cumbersome. The process of completing detailed forms, submitting them up the chain of command, and attending meetings and interviews has deterred many health care professionals from reporting all but the most egregious errors.
There are a number of reasons why medical errors and other adverse events (like infections or medication side effects) go unreported. One of the more benign and common reasons is that staff on duty does not perceive an event as an adverse event.
The reasons are numerous: They're often traumatized, disabled, unaware they've been a victim of a medical error or don't understand the bureaucracy. That's a problem for those individual patients and for the rest of us.
Staffing shortages were the top reason nurses cited for planning to leave their jobs, followed by needing better work-life balance, the survey out Tuesday said. Nurses also said they planned to leave their roles because their mental health is at risk and they feel a lack of appreciation.