Cardiac arrhythmias affect more than 700,000 people in England is one of the top ten reasons for hospital admission (Department of Health 2005). Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common and important cardiac arrhythmia, it the most common of all the arrhythmias seen in general practice. AF affects 5% of the UK population over the age of 65 years, rising to 10% in those over 75 years of age (Kirby 2005). The principal significance, both to the patient and the healthcare system is the increased risk of embolic stroke. Atrial fibrillation is associated with 15% of all strokes and with 36% of strokes in patients over the age of 60 (Hobbs 1999).
The purpose of this paper is to discuss data associated with falls, and identify risks and prevention strategies. Analysis of the data As the population continues to age, falls among the elderly are of great concern. It is important for healthcare facilities to implement dashboards to help improve performances of their facility and staff and to monitor patients who may be at risk for falls. The Sinai inpatient rehab unit used the National Data of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI) to help measure nurse sensitive quality indicators such as falls. Falls are important to be monitored due to rising cost of care for patients who have fallen, and this will help decrease the chance of harm to patients.
An Institute of Medicine report estimates that medical errors cost the nation 17 billion dollars in preventable medical errors each year (“A Guide,” 2011). In addition, these errors rob the medical community of the trust and confidence of its patients. This paper will explore: why the Joint Commission goals are important, examples of problems that have been experienced, potential hindrances to meeting these goals, and strategies to help maintain adherence to these goals. It goes without saying that it is of paramount importance to the safety and well-being of a patient to be correctly identified and to have medications administered safely. There are hundreds of patients in a hospital; and at any given time there may be several with the same last name.
724.8 – Evidence-Based Practice & Applied Nursing Research Research Integration 724.8.3-06 Western Governors University A. Routine Shaving Prior to Surgery 1. Surprisingly, many hospitals continue this practice, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. This practice leads to increased risk of infection to the patient. 2.
The Role Risk Management Plays at a Nursing Home Stephanie Creech HCS/451 March 26, 2012 Kristen Hauck The Role Risk Management Plays at a Nursing Home In April 2009 a jury awarded a $6.5 million settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit against a nursing home; the cause of death was lack of water. Perhaps, if the nursing home had an effective risk management team this may not have happened. As one can see risk management is important in any field including healthcare. The role risk management plays in healthcare is important, because controlling risk can mean more resources are available, and a higher quality of care can be achieved. Risk management is the process of identifying, assessing, and prioritizing, risks of all kinds (whatisriskmangement.net, 2011).
Hospital Acquired Infection (HAI), or as it is sometimes referred to as Nosocomial infection; is an infection occurring in patients after admission to hospital that was neither present nor incubating at the time of admission. This student will discuss the role of the nurse in preventing hospital acquired infection while on clinical placement, define HAI, and look at the causes of HAI and how it is spread. This student will also show in order to minimise these risks, systems must in place, understood and implemented by all concerned. Plowman (1997) claimed that, 6,000 deaths per year are caused by HAI, with significant financial costs for the NHS and personal costs for patients’ families. Other factors include separation from family, anxiety, sense of isolation and stigma.
1.3 Before using any of these methods to manage pain, the individual needs to be assessed, as every kind of pain relief can be harmful, care plan and policies and procedures always have to be followed and necessary precautions have to be taken. Be able to assist in minimising individuals pain or discomfort 2.1 Pain can cause many problems, such as sensory
Care Delivery: Delegation Introduction The topic I have chosen to discuss in this essay is delegation, as from my experience this is one of the most complex nursing skills to develop, this claim is supported by literature (Weydt: 2010) Delegation is a suitable topic to discuss as it is a necessity for any nurse to be able to delegate effectively, especially in recent times in which nurses are stretched to their limits due to an increase in patient numbers and current government NHS cuts. The NHS is supposed to be protected from the public sector cuts, but new research shows that more than 50,000 jobs are disappearing from the NHS (Ramesh: 2011) Delegation has particular relevance to me as a third year student because knowing when, how and to whom you can delegate requires a complex understanding of the task in hand, the process of delegation, and the skills and existing workloads of the people available. It is especially important to achieve the right balance as a third year student, as delegating too much may result in a loss of control, while failing to delegate or not delegating enough can lead to duties not being completed. I will begin by discussing areas of delegation such as responsibility, accountability and authority. I will then move on to discuss aspects and principles of best practice.
According to Meleis (2007) knowing includes knowledge based on observation, research findings (evidenced based), clinical manifestations and scientific approach. As a stroke nurse empirical knowing it’s very important in taking care of stroke patients. I determine patient’s neurological status by performing neuro checks frequently every 1-2 hrs as the patient’s condition might deteriorate the first 24hrs and perform swallow test to determine if the patient can swallow medications. Patient’s plan of care is based on assessment findings(vital signs, Glasgow coma score).If a patient is confused and very weak fall precaution is observed by activating the bed alarms, request for a PT/OT consult, if the patient does not pass the swallow test, a speech therapist is consulted. Sometimes patient’s neurological deficits get resolved after a few hours or days and that calls for change of treatment plan.
Exploring the importance of standard of care for people with dementia, concerning about staffs training. Abstract:- Dementia is one of the common health issues in UK, as it has a very big impact on people’s lives. According to NHS (2012) there are approximately 800,000 people living with dementia with the estimation of increasing double in the next 30 years. The aim of this study is to explore the importance of the standard of care received by the patient with dementia in medical care setting in hospital, regarding the training of the staffs caring for dementia patients. The researcher aims to accomplish quantitative study in order to develop theories or hypotheses pertaining to phenomena, it only takes into account the quantifiable aspects of phenomenon (Polit and Beck 2010).For the research, 100 nurses are working in an acute care setting and will be selected randomly.