Advisor
Hummel, Faye
Committee Member
McNeill, Jeanette
Department
Advanced Nurse Generalist
Institution
University of Northern Colorado
Type of Resources
Text
Date Created
5-2020
Extent
68 pages
Digital Origin
Born digital
Abstract
Recently, patient misidentification has been identified as a common error in healthcare systems. Six patient safety recommendations from the World Health Organization (2007) have resulted in research and improvements to increase patient safety. However, patient misidentifications continue and are a challenge to patient safety. Failure to correctly identify patients continues to result in errors with medications, transfusions, diagnostic testing, and wrong person procedures. In the hospital, patient identification is performed throughout the hospitalization stay: at admission, before a treatment procedure or general nursing care, medication administration, and handover from provider to provider. In some hospital settings, this task is supported by technology such as barcode scanning and mobile nursing stations. In other hospitals, patient identification is conducted by the individual nurse. The purpose of this research was to identify gaps in patient identification procedures by nurses in one specialty hospital setting to enhance patient safety and quality of care. A descriptive observational study was conducted with 34 nurses working in in patient, out-patient, and operating room areas of a large Vietnamese city hospital. A questionnaire and checklist, Evaluation of the Nurse’s Practice About Patient Identification Procedure, regarding the use of nine “right” practices in patient identification were developed by an expert clinician based on years of experience, review of the literature, and using the procedure recommended by the WHO and Joint Commission International (2007). Findings revealed statistically significant scores for the use of “right” practices related to the higher education of the nurse and the department type with in-patient nurses demonstrating the highest scores. The study results revealed several indicators of high rate of use of correct practices as well as areas that needed improvement. Findings provided support for improving practice and the role of nurse advocacy in the area of patient identification, and also served to direct further research regarding patient safety.
Degree type
MS
Degree Name
Master
Local Identifiers
Ngo Thi Phuong My PDF Thesis
Rights Statement
Copyright is held by the author
