NURS FPX 8035 Assessment 3 Restate The PICOT Question and Outcomes of the Intervention
Improving patient safety is a top priority in healthcare organizations, and incident reporting systems have emerged as an effective strategy to reduce medical errors and other adverse events. The purpose of this essay is to restate the PICOT question and evaluate the outcomes of implementing an incident reporting system to enhance patient safety. The intervention was chosen based on its success in prior studies, particularly the research conducted by Petschnig and Haslinger-Baumann (2017), which highlighted its effectiveness in reducing incidents in healthcare settings. This essay will focus on how this intervention improved patient and staff safety in a hospital environment.
The PICOT framework is commonly used to outline clinical inquiries and guide evidence-based practice (EBP). The PICOT question guiding this assessment is: In hospitalized patients (P), does the implementation of an incident reporting system (I), compared to the absence of such reporting ©, result in an improvement in patient safety (O) over six months (T)? The components of this question include the population (P), intervention (I), comparison ©, outcome (O), and timeframe (T). This inquiry specifically focuses on evaluating the effectiveness of incident reporting in reducing patient falls, medication errors, and other adverse events in a hospital setting.
The goal of implementing an incident reporting system is to reduce preventable incidents, such as patient falls, injuries to staff or nurses, and medication errors. Prior to the intervention, the hospital recorded several adverse events over two years. In 2018, there were three patient falls and two medication errors resulting in allergic reactions. The following year, in 2019, there were four patient falls, one nurse injury resulting in a broken arm, one staff injury, and another medication-induced allergic reaction. These incidents highlighted a clear need for a systematic approach to incident reporting in order to enhance safety protocols and minimize the risk of harm to both patients and staff.
The incident reporting system was implemented in 2020, and its outcomes were closely monitored over a six-month period. The data collected after the intervention showed significant improvements in patient safety. The most notable result was a 100% reduction in patient falls, as no falls were reported in 2020, compared to four falls in 2019. Additionally, the number of medication-induced allergic reactions dropped by 50%, from two incidents in 2019 to just one in 2020. There were also no reported staff or nurse injuries in 2020, further demonstrating the effectiveness of the system in promoting a safer hospital environment.
The positive outcomes observed after the implementation of the incident reporting system are consistent with the findings of Petschnig and Haslinger-Baumann (2017), who also reported significant improvements in patient safety following the use of such systems. The reduction in falls and medication errors suggests that the system helped healthcare professionals identify potential risks and take preventive actions before incidents occurred. Moreover, the absence of staff injuries indicates that the system was effective not only in improving patient safety but also in protecting hospital personnel from workplace accidents.
In conclusion, the implementation of an incident reporting system proved to be a highly effective intervention for improving patient and staff safety in a hospital setting. The PICOT question provided a clear framework for evaluating the success of the intervention, and the data showed substantial reductions in patient falls, medication errors, and staff injuries. As a result, the hospital experienced a significant improvement in safety outcomes over the six-month period. Given these positive results, it is recommended that the incident reporting system be continued and further refined to ensure ongoing improvements in patient safety.
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References
Petschnig, W., & Haslinger-Baumann, E. (2017). The effect of incident reporting systems in hospitals: An evidence-based study. Journal of Nursing and Healthcare, 5(3), 123–131.
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