Medical Errors

Medical Errors

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Medical Errors

Introduction

Health practices require practitioners to avoid medical errors that may have fatal repercussions, but avoiding the possible blunders requires much attention and adequate intervention to prevent undesirable effects. The study focuses on the occurrence of blunders in healthcare practices as one of the major concerns affecting operations. Mistakes that occur from various areas affect social workers, patients and their relatives, and other stakeholders relating to the organization. Organizational leaders must take bold steps towards training the employees and reminding them of the importance of avoiding mix-ups. Furthermore, the institution should embrace an EHR that lowers the chances of making faults when entering and retrieving patient data because any improper action could result in adverse ethical issues. A health facility increases its chances of reducing medical mistakes by considering ethical concerns and implementing ideas based on an effective change management plan.

Elements of the Problem

Medical errors are a critical public health issue and a leading cause of death in the U.S. and other parts of the world. It is a serious concern because it is hard to identify the real cause of errors and, even if identified, offer a reliable, practical resolution that reduces the possibilities of a reoccurrence. All social workers know medical mistakes create a severe health challenge that poses a significant threat to patients’ safety (Institute of Health eat al., 2003). A standardized terminology to precisely describe what constitutes medical error does not exist, but Rodziewicz and Hipskind (2020) identify two primary types of possible blunders. Errors of omission happen due to failure to act. For example, an error can occur for not sterilizing surgical after surgery or not position a patient properly in the wheelchair. According to Rodziewicz and Hipskind (2020), the second type of error is errors of the commission that happen because of acting wrongly. For instance, a physician can administer the wrong medication, or a nurse can enter incorrect data on the electronic health record. Medical errors have devastating effects on both health care professionals and patients. Rodziewicz and Hipskind (2020) inform that health practitioners usually encounter unbearable psychological complications such as suicidal feelings, depression, guilt, and anger due to perceived or real medical blunders. The threat of impending litigation usually compounds the fearful feelings. Some clinicians lose clinical confidence, and the patients may lose confidence in their operations. Besides, medical errors have devastating effects on patients and their relatives because any blunder on the part of the caregiver has a direct impact on those under their care. For instance, prescribing wrong medication could have fatal health outcomes, while erroneous storage of data could cause time wastage.

Possible Solutions

Relevant stakeholders must embrace suitable intervention mechanisms to deal with the medical issue. Part of the remedy is to develop and maintain an organizational culture that focuses on identifying the problems and applying appropriate solutions instead of harboring a culture of disgrace, reprimand, and blame. Leaders in healthcare institutions should create a culture of safety that pays attention to system advancement by viewing medical blunders as obstacles that the organization must defeat. Healthcare managers should encourage every individual to play a role in making the provision of healthcare services safer for practitioners and patients. An apt method for empowering the employees is to train them on possible ways of controlling mistakes and achieving preciseness in their functions (Devkota & Devkota, 2013; Knettel et al., 2017). Training health specialists equip them with the capacity to use electronic health records (EHRs) that give precise, up-to-date, and complete data about data at the point of service (King et al., 2014). Using EHRs enables fast access to patients’ e-records, and promotes secure sharing of information. Most fundamentally, gaining the competence to use technology in managing data has a substantial impact on minimizing risks that emanate from improper storage, management, retrieval, and use of patient records.

Ethical Implications

Taking suitable solutions to address the problem and failing to act have ethical implications that all stakeholders must consider to know the best way to act. Taking suitable measures to mitigate health concerns will eradicate the fears that health practitioners develop when they commit mistakes. Quality of work increases when the service providers do not have any fears and are confident that they protect patient safety (Kaptein & Wempe, 2002). Moreover, patients and their relatives build confidence on the service providers and the entire organization when they feel the institution handles its operations while striving to prevent errors. Placing strong measures to prevent mistakes develops a stable relationship with other stakeholders, such as financers, suppliers, and the government, that have considerable influence on the organizational activities. The firm should align its activities with utilitarianism that requires one to act in a way that benefits most people (Amer, 2019). Thus, the health facility should take sufficient time to implement a plan that does result in unwanted ethical issues.

Implementation

The implementation should rely on an effective change management plan to transit from an organization that records numerous mistakes to a facility that experiences no faults. A reliable framework is Lewin’s change theory, which is essential in guiding transformational processes in nursing practices. While developing structures to minimize mistakes, the group should focus on the unfreezing phase, whereby the implementers come up with appealing ways of encouraging people to discard old practices and embrace cautiousness (Deborah, 2018). The team at this stage must know that overcoming individual resistance challenges plays a vital role in fostering success. The executors should move to the second stage, change, where they enact the measures facilitating the transition to the desired state (Deborah, 2018). For example, organizational leaders may procure a tender to improve the use of EHRs to avoid mishandling patient records. The final stage is refreezing, which requires the practitioners to adopt the enacted changes to become standard operating procedures (Deborah, 2018). The last phase is critical because failure to emphasize the need to follow new practices could pave the way for old habits. The implementation processes require adequate and relevant resources to yield the best results.

Conclusion

The study illustrates the importance of coming up with suitable solutions to reduce the chances of making medical errors that usually have devastating implications. Blunders directly impact caregivers, patients, their relatives, the entire organization, and other relevant stakeholders. The report suggests that active leaders come up with appropriate guidance on how to mitigate the issue. Organizational leaders should facilitate the training of health workers who relate with patients at different capacities to avoid medical errors. Managers should remind workers to act in a way that reduces errors and should lead by example. Training social workers to equip them with valuable skills and empower them to use EHRs to reduce faults. Health workers and patients should understand that taking suitable measures to prevent any fatalities or failing to mitigate the concern may have ethical repercussions that either promote or derail service delivery.  

References

Amer, A. (2019). Understanding the ethical theories in medical practice. Open Journal of Nursing, 9(2), 189-193. doi: 10.4236/ojn.2019.92018

Deborah, O. (2018). Lewin’s theory of change: Applicability of its principles in a contemporary organization. Journal of Strategic Management, 2(5), 1-12.

Devkota, B., & Devkota, A. (2013). Electronic health records: Advantages of use and barriers to adoption. Health Renaissance, 11(3), 181-184. doi: 10.3126/hren.v11i3.9629

Institute of Health eat al. (2003). Health professions education: A bridge to quality. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press. ISBN-13: 978-0309087230

Kaptein, M., & Wempe, J. (2002). Three general theories of ethics and the integrative role of integrity theory. SSRN Electronic Journal, doi: 10.2139/ssrn.1940393

King, J., et al. (2014). Clinical benefits of electronic health record use: National findings. Health Services Research, 49(2), 392-404. doi: 10.1111/1475-6773.12135

Knettel, B., et al. (2017). Training community health workers: An evaluation of effectiveness, sustainable, continuity, and cultural humility in an educational program in rural Haiti. International Journal of Health Promotion and Education, 55(4), 1-12. doi: 10.1080/14635240.2017.1284014

Rodziewicz, T., & Hipskind, J. (2020). Medical error prevention. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK499956/