Analyzing a Current Health Care Problem or Issue

Analyzing a Current Health Care Problem or Issue

Healthcare system errors harm the patient and healthcare facilities. They lower patients’ safety by reducing the quality of service delivery (Waldenu.edu, n.d.). Patients incur extra financial costs due to prolonged hospitalizations caused by healthcare system errors (Waldenu.edu, n.d.). Furthermore, healthcare facilities are likely to be penalized because of the high incidence of healthcare system errors (Waldenu.edu, n.d.). As such, monetary reimbursements to the healthcare facility are lowered. This paper analyzes healthcare system errors and proposes solutions to the problem.

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Elements of the Problem/Issue

The healthcare problem is healthcare system errors. Healthcare system errors result from unintended acts of omission or commission (Ahmed et al., 2019). Examples of healthcare system errors include medication errors, wrong diagnoses, surgical injuries, pressure sores, and wrong transfusions (Pelzang & Hutchinson, 2018). Failure to uphold the five rights of medication administration causes medication errors. Healthcare system errors increase the risk of adverse events, hypersensitivity reactions, and toxicities (Ahmed et al., 2019). For example, medication errors such as administering medication to the wrong patient increase the risk of hypersensitivity reactions and drug toxicities (Escrivá Gracia et al., 2019). Additionally, healthcare system errors involving the wrong diagnosis are associated with suboptimal outcomes and toxicities.

The etiology of healthcare system errors is multifactorial. Lack of open communication creates disharmony among members of the interdisciplinary team. In addition, poor communication inhibits information sharing and disrupts care coordination among healthcare providers (Ahmed et al., 2019; Waldenu.edu, n.d.). This increases the risk of healthcare system errors such as medication errors and misdiagnosis. The absence of policies and standard operating procedures increases the likelihood of healthcare system errors (Ahmed et al., 2019). Elaborate policies guide the actions of stakeholders in the healthcare facility. Lack of appropriate healthcare technology is the other risk factor for healthcare system errors (Ahmed et al., 2019). Healthcare facilities with manual systems have a higher incidence of healthcare system errors compared to those with electronic health record systems. Nursing shortage increases the risk of healthcare system errors. Lack of optimized nurse-to-patient ratios is associated with burnout, fatigue, stress, job dissatisfaction, and a high risk of medication errors (Ahmed et al., 2019). The other factors that cause healthcare system errors include inadequate staff training and technical problems such as the breakdown or failure of medical equipment (Ahmed et al., 2019).

Analysis

Setting or Context for the Problem

Healthcare system errors are common in all healthcare facilities. Both organizational and individual (stakeholders-associated) factors contribute to this problem. At the level of the healthcare organization, factors such as nursing shortages, inadequate policies and procedures, and lack of training activities increase the risk of healthcare system errors (Wheeler et al., 2018). Stakeholder-associated factors include lack of adequate knowledge and skills and the failure to adhere to organizational policies and procedures (Escrivá Gracia et al., 2019). As such, the prevalence of healthcare system errors is high in various healthcare facilities such as nursing homes and hospitals.

Importance of the Problem or Issue

The problem of healthcare system errors is relevant to me. As a nurse, I should provide safe and quality patient-centered healthcare services. Nurses are key stakeholders because they spend most of their time with patients. Nurses should facilitate the detection and prevention of healthcare system errors. To achieve this, they collaborate with members of the interdisciplinary team. Notably, nurses and other healthcare providers should embrace care coordination to increase accountability and reduce healthcare system errors.

Groups of People Affected by the Problem or Issue

Healthcare system errors affect patients in the inpatient and outpatient settings. For example, medication administration errors such as wrong transfusions are common in the inpatient setting. In the outpatient setting, errors can occur due to wrong or the lack of adequate patient instructions. As such, stakeholders in all departments of the hospital play a key role in mitigating the incidences of healthcare system errors. The hospital administration should ensure that all stakeholders work in harmony to achieve care coordination and reduce the cases of healthcare system errors.

Considering Options

The problem of healthcare system errors can be addressed by implementing various strategies. The introduction of electronic health record systems can help mitigate healthcare system errors (Ahmed et al., 2019). Features of electronic health record systems such as computerized medical order entries reduce medication errors by promoting prompt and accurate identification of potential errors (Alizadeh et al., 2021). Furthermore, electronic health record systems promote care coordination because interdisciplinary team members get timely access to patient information (Alizadeh et al., 2021). Care coordination promotes accountability and patient-centeredness. This helps to reduce healthcare system errors.

The other strategy is to formulate elaborate organizational policies and procedures. These policies should focus on the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration, care coordination, and open communication. Evidence-based standard operating procedures should be formulated to reduce the incidence of medication errors. For example, standard operating procedures should focus on the importance of avoiding distractions and double-checking to mitigate healthcare system errors (Ahmed et al., 2019). Adherence to these standard operating procedures will reduce the incidence of healthcare system errors.

The other strategy is staff training. Periodic training equips healthcare providers with relevant knowledge and skills to mitigate the incidence of medication errors. The training should entail the types of healthcare system errors and the strategies for preventing these errors (Ahmed et al., 2019). Furthermore, nurses should be trained on the correct medication administration techniques, handling of high-alert medications, and appropriate patient care.

Solution

Electronic health record (EHR) systems can be used to minimize the incidence of healthcare system errors. As mentioned, features of electronic health record systems, such as computerized medical order entries, reduce medication errors by promoting prompt and accurate identification of potential errors (Alizadeh et al., 2021). In addition, EHR systems promote interdisciplinary collaboration and care coordination. By so doing, members of the interdisciplinary work in harmony to increase the quality of healthcare services and patient safety. Electronic health record systems increase accuracy by eliminating errors related to illegible prescriptions.

Implementation

The implementation of electronic health record systems can be accomplished sequentially. The first step is budgeting and resource allocation. The second step is software and hardware acquisition. Essentially, the acquisition is made after vendor qualifications through a competitive process. The third step is the installation of the software and hardware. After that, staff training happens (Alizadeh et al., 2021). Stakeholders should be trained on the use of hardware, software, and meaningful use of EHR systems. Notably, stakeholders should understand the provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (Moore & Frye, 2019). Implementation of the EHR system should be done after comprehensive staff training. Perpetual evaluation should be conducted to determine whether the EHR system has mitigated healthcare system errors.

Ethical Implications

Healthcare providers should uphold beneficence, justice, autonomy, and non-maleficence when implementing the EHR system. Beneficence and non-maleficence advocate for actions that bring merit to the patient (McDermott-Levy et al., 2018). In this context, healthcare providers should demonstrate beneficence and non-maleficence by enforcing patient privacy and confidentiality when transmitting electronic information. The principle of autonomy can be embraced by respecting patients’ opinions, perspectives, and choices regarding the treatment plan. Justice should be implemented by ensuring that evidence-based strategies are implemented equally among all patients. Additionally, the privacy and confidentiality of all patients should be protected non-discriminatively.

Conclusion

Healthcare system errors harm the patient and healthcare facilities. They lower patients’ safety by reducing the quality of service delivery. Essentially, this problem can be addressed by staff training, introducing the electronic health record system, and formulating elaborate organizational policies and procedures. Accordingly, healthcare providers should uphold beneficence, justice, autonomy, and non-maleficence when implementing the EHR system.

References

Ahmed, Z., Saada, M., Jones, A. M., & Al-Hamid, A. M. (2019). Medical errors: Healthcare professionals’ perspective at a tertiary hospital in Kuwait. PLoS ONE, 14(5), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0217023

Alizadeh, G., Jafarzadeh, A., & Farough Khosravi, M. (2021). Scoping Review of Computerized Physician Order Entry Systems in Reducing Medical Errors. Evidence-Based Health Policy, Management and Economics, 5(2), 142–150. https://doi.org/10.18502/jebhpme.v5i2.6559

Escrivá Gracia, J., Brage Serrano, R., & Fernández Garrido, J. (2019). Medication errors and drug knowledge gaps among critical-care nurses: A mixed multi-method study. BMC Health Services Research, 19(1), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-019-4481-7

McDermott-Levy, R., Leffers, J., & Mayaka, J. (2018). Ethical Principles and Guidelines of Global Health Nursing Practice. Nursing Outlook, 66(5), 473–481. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2018.06.013

Moore, W., & Frye, S. (2019). Review of HIPAA, Part 1: History, protected health information, and privacy and security rules. Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology, 47(4), 269–272. https://doi.org/10.2967/JNMT.119.227819

Pelzang, R., & Hutchinson, A. M. (2018). Patient safety issues and concerns in Bhutan’s healthcare system: A qualitative exploratory descriptive study. BMJ Open, 8(7). https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-022788

Waldenu.edu. (n.d.). Common Healthcare System Errors and Causes Every MSN Graduate Should Know About. https://www.waldenu.edu/online-masters-programs/master-of-science-in-nursing/resource/common-healthcare-system-errors-and-causes-every-msn-graduate-should-know-about

Wheeler, A. J., Scahill, S., Hopcroft, D., & Stapleton, H. (2018). Reducing medication errors at transitions of care is everyone’s business. Australian Prescriber, 41(3), 73–77. https://doi.org/10.18773/austprescr.2018.021

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Write a 4-6 page analysis of a current problem or issue in health care, including a proposed solution and possible ethical implications.

Introduction
In your health care career, you will be confronted with many problems that demand a solution. By using research skills, you can learn what others are doing and saying about similar problems. Then, you can analyze the problem and the people and systems it affects. You can also examine potential solutions and their ramifications. This assessment allows you to practice this approach with a real-world problem.
Instructions
Note: The requirements outlined below correspond to the grading criteria in the scoring guide. At a minimum, be sure to address each point. In addition, you are encouraged to review the performance-level descriptions for each criterion to see how your work will be assessed.
1. Describe the health care problem or issue you selected for use in Assessment 2 (from the Assessment Topic Areas media piece) and provide details about it.
o Explore your chosen topic. For this, you should use the first four steps of the Socratic Problem-Solving Approach to aid your critical thinking. This approach was introduced in Assessment 2.
o Identify possible causes for the problem or issue.
2. Use scholarly information to describe and explain the health care problem or issue and identify possible causes for it.
o Identify at least three scholarly or academic peer-reviewed journal articles about the topic.
o You may find the How Do I Find Peer-Reviewed Articles? library guide helpful in locating appropriate references.
o You may use articles you found while working on Assessment 2 or you may search the Capella library for other articles.
o You may find the applicable Undergraduate Library Research Guide helpful in your search.
o Review the Think Critically About Source Quality to help you complete the following:
o Assess the credibility of the information sources.
o Assess the relevance of the information sources.
3. Analyze the health care problem or issue.
o Describe the setting or context for the problem or issue.
o Describe why the problem or issue is important to you.
o Identify groups of people affected by the problem or issue.
o Provide examples that support your analysis of the problem or issue.
4. Discuss potential solutions for the health care problem or issue.
o Describe what would be required to implement a solution.
o Describe potential consequences of ignoring the problem or issue.
o Provide the pros and cons for one of the solutions you are proposing.
5. Explain the ethical principles (Beneficence, Nonmaleficence, Autonomy, and Justice) if potential solution was implemented.
o Describe what would be necessary to implement the proposed solution.
o Explain the ethical principles that need to be considered (Beneficence, Nonmaleficence, Autonomy, and Justice) if the potential solution was implemented.
o Provide examples from the literature to support the points you are making.
Example Assessment: You may use the following to give you an idea of what a Proficient or higher rating on the scoring guide would look like:
• Assessment 4 Example [PDF].
Additional Requirements
Your assessment should also meet the following requirements:
• Length: 4–6 typed, double-spaced pages, not including the title page and reference page.
• Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12 point.
• APA tutorial: Use the APA Style Paper Tutorial [DOCX] for guidance.
• Written communication: Write clearly and logically, with correct use of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and mechanics.
• Using outside sources: Integrate information from outside sources into academic writing by appropriately quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing, following APA style.
• References: Integrate information from outside sources to include at least three scholarly or academic peer-reviewed journal articles and three in-text citations within the paper.
• APA format: Follow current APA guidelines for in-text citations of outside sources in the body of your paper and also on the reference page.
Organize your paper using the following structure and head