Essay Example Dedicated to Nursing Quality and Patient Safety Committee

Nursing Quality and Patient Safety committee at Advocate Hospital was established so that it can serve to review patient quality assurance and safety issues about the attainment of the organization's values and vision. The committee members discuss, solve problems, plan and implement necessary changes in nursing care. The committee also enhances nursing performance relating to financial and quality targets by focusing on specific outcomes within the high opportunity areas. Furthermore, the committee ensures the integration and coordination of the entire components of the Patient Safety Program which include implementation and oversight of the National Patients Safety Goals, monitoring of indicators related to patient safety, oversight and implementation of organization's response to ISMP Alerts, Sentinel Event Alerts and other patient safety alerts and reviewing patient safety processes and policies on a regular basis. The committee comprises of a chair, vice chair and up to eight additional members drawn from the nurses. The members are required to be committed to the mission and goals of the hospital, be willing to dedicate quality time to participate in the committee activities and have interest and expertise in the various areas that advance the committee's mandate. The committee addresses the various issues within their responsibilities highlighted above and makes recommendations to the management team of the hospital so that the organization continues to improve and maintain the quality of care delivered to the patients and the families.

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Problem Identification

Nursing Quality and Patient Safety committee at Advocate Hospital seeks to examine barriers regarding why the staff does not consistently "scrub the hub" when inserting the central line when a patient is receiving or drawing fluids. Scrub the Hub culture entails scrubbing to disinfect the ports (ports of bags or bottles, needles connectors, injection ports on administration sets and the hub or the catheter. However, failure to scrub the hub has been identified as the main cause of central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI). CLABSI has become prevalent with 41, 000 preventable causes occurring each year in the United States hospitals with an accompanying cost range of $ 5, 734 to & 22, 939 per infection (Jeffrey & Pickler, 2014). This shows that CLABSIs are costly and efforts should be enhanced to reduce and eliminate them by adhering to scrub the hub guidelines.

Nurses often fail to scrub the hub because of some reasons. According to Jeffrey & Pickler (2014), most nurses fail to adhere to standardized care practices when dealing with the central line due to time demands, resource availability, and documentation. For example, supplies may not be available at the bedside when the nurse wants to insert the central line.

To reduce the infections related to scrub the hub culture, Vygon's Curos Port Protectors have been introduced. The Curos are effective in reducing catheter-related bloodstream infection rates by 69% (Cameron-Watson, 2016). However, the effectiveness depends on the nurse compliance. The findings of this study show that overall when aiming to reduce the CLABSI, nurse compliance in hub related practices has to be high.

Also, education and training may be implemented to address the inconsistencies in scrub the hub practices among the nurses to reduce incidences of CLABSI. Education and training should pertain to establishing the nurses' skills in inserting and removing central venous catheter (CVC) (Dumont, 2013). This training should extend to preparations before insertion or removal of the CVC. The staff should be trained and educated on precautions required to wear mask and cap, sterile gloves, sterile gown and to use sterile drape over the patient during insertion to minimize infection (Dumont, 2013). Education and training remind the nurses of the importance of scrub the hub culture as a way of preventing CLABSI (Humphrey, 2015). Thus, education can be considered the point to start when effecting a positive change towards eliminating consistencies in scrub the hub practise among the nurses and eventually reduce CLABSI cases.

Scrub the hub practices should be considered as safety measures which can be addressed by keeping check of wider issues that reduce nurses' safety adherence. For example, when factors such as work environments, workload and job satisfaction are improved, safety care provision for patients by nurses is enhanced (Chiang, Hsiao & Lee, 2017). Similarly, improving these factors affecting nurses enhancement of care for patients can improve adherence to scrub the hub practices to reduce and eliminate CLABSI.

Failure to scrub the hub leads to blood infection among the patients causing the need for further treatment and incurring costs which could have been preventable. Also, the patient suffers additional pain from the illness and in the worst case death. It is necessary that nurses adhere to the standards that will prevent CLABSI.

Safety Culture

The safety culture at Advocate Hospital is characterized by team spirit dedicated to improving the patient care. The hospital recognizes and acknowledges the high-risk nature of its activities and the need for improvement through setting up of various committees such as the Nursing Quality and Patient Safety committee which identifies specific risks and make recommendations to address the issue. This step alone suggests a safe environment within the hospital marked by a strong urge for improvement.

Also, based on the committee's initiatives, the organization depicts a climate marked by cooperation. The members of the committee are working together to investigate the issues influencing patient safety and suggest solutions from various perspectives. The organization's culture encourages different perspectives to solve problems by encouraging views of members in various committees.

Moreover, the organization's climate and safety culture exhibit innovativeness in seeking to future delivery of care. Based on the committee initiatives, the members suggest for new approaches to delivering the campaigns to bedside Registered Nurses (RN). The idea of establishing new approaches seeks to ensure that the nurses are motivated and that they realize the need for change in safety practices to improve the patient care (Ammouri, Tailakh, Muliira, Geethakrishnan & Al Kindi, 2015). Innovativeness in addressing safety issues ensures effective delivery of care to the patients within the hospital.

Communication and Collaboration

Collaboration and communication are closely related concepts that enhance each other. Communication is an exchange of information through verbal and non-verbal means and is necessary for members of groups to create understanding and act collaboratively (Hughes, 2008). On the other hand, collaboration in healthcare is the act of professionals within a health organization cooperatively working together, assuming complementary roles, sharing responsibility in problem-solving and collectively making decisions to formulate and undertake plans for improving patient care (Hughes, 2008). Within the Nursing Quality and Patient Safety committee, effective communication and collaboration is signified by joint decision making and problem-solving among the members in establishing initiatives to solve the identified problem that leads to infections among the patients.

Within the Nursing Quality and Patient Safety committee at Advocate hospital, there are high levels of communication and collaboration among the members. It is not surprising that for an organization such as the Advocate Hospital to succeed, it has to realize highly effective levels of communication and collaboration among the various members of making up the hospital team. In fact, partnerships that encourage world-class patient care are as a result of skilled communication, collaboration and respectful workplace (Dietrich et al., 2010). Within the committee, there is a high level of collaboration of members as they work in two groups to enhance the attainment of the targets. There is still a high level of collaboration even when the committee members are divided into two.

Also, within the committee, communication and collaboration are enhanced in various ways. According to Ochard (2010), nurses can become collaborative members through apprehending and articulating knowledge, nurses' skills and roles to others, learning to work in collaborative teams and sharing knowledge and skills with other members within the healthcare. Within the Nursing Quality and Patient Safety committee at Advocate hospital, the members are engaged in deriving initiatives for improving safety and care and sharing them with their colleagues at the bedside. This is sharing of knowledge and skills with colleagues with can enhance collaboration among the nurses within the organization. Also, effective communication is realized because it is more of a peer discussion where members can use the language that each understands well.

Although there are effective communication and collaboration among the members of the committee, it is necessary to enhance these concepts through some strategies. According to Hughes (2008), a health organization may enhance communication and collaboration among members through the creation of a nonpunitive environment, clear direction, clear and known roles and tasks for team members and respectful atmosphere. The group leader may undertake to provide clear directions and roles for members to stimulate smooth operations that create a respectful atmosphere.

Barriers

As the committee proceeds towards implementing the suggested initiatives to address the inconsistencies experienced in scrub the hub culture, there are certain challenges it may encounter. According to Jeffrey and Pickler (2014), there are both cognitive and contextual factors that hinder adherence to standards by the nurses. In certain instances, a nurse is involved in a situation where he or she has to decide between two competing priorities which may eventually make him, or her forget some key steps in central line insertion. This is a cognitive issue which is bound to occur even if the nurse receives education and training. However, it may be helpful to have charts describing the procedures on the wall to mitigate such a situation. On the other hand, contextual challenges such as availability of resources may inhibit the implementation of the initiatives (Jeffrey & Pickler, 2014). Another challenge that may arise is inadequate staffing. Adequate staffing of nurses is a determinant of quality patient care (Clarke & Donaldson, 2008). The newly suggested initiatives may require more efforts from the nurses calling for more nurses that can be availed in the organization.

Conclusion

Improving patient safety and care requires the establishment of committees within health organizations to regularly identify and address issues undermining the delivery of quality care to the patient and their families. The success of these committees underlies the effectiveness of communication and collaboration among the members. The members must communicate effectively with one another and is the only way that the leader can direct the members as well as discuss the issue at hand to arrive at initiatives to address it. Similarly, collaboration ensures that the members cooperate in decision making and problem-solving to arrive at better solutions. Quality and safety care in health is a product of proper communication, collaboration, and accountability of roles among the committee members and the entire staff of the organization.

References

Ammouri, A. A., Tailakh, A. K., Muliira, J. K., Geethakrishnan, R., & Al Kindi, S. N. (2015)...