How Checklists Affect the Healthcare System, by: Rebecca Fairbanks by Rebecca Fairbanks

Do you feel your perspective on medical error has changed since beginning this course?

rlfairbanks3 — 2024-11-14 22:47:38 UTC

I believe that my perspective on medical error has changed because it has made me more sympathetic and understanding that there are a lot more complexities to the healthcare system that may create room for potential error. To elaborate, issues including under-staffing and technological errors are aspects that contribute to medical error that are out of employee control. Insufficient staffing causes people to not be able to giver proper time and care to all patients because there are too many patients and responsibilities for the amount of employees that are available.

Explain at least three ways that human and medical error impacts the healthcare setting.

rlfairbanks3 — 2024-11-14 22:54:38 UTC

Patients can suffer from medical error and develop various medical conditions that otherwise would not have occurred if medical error did not happen. Medical conditions include disabilities, disease, various illnesses, and death.
Medical facilities will suffer major consequences if patients take legal action against them in the case of medical error. For example, patients can sue the healthcare provider and the facility for the medical error that they experienced, which would create financial concerns for the healthcare facility and it would risk the healthcare provider losing their job. (IHI PS 103)
Healthcare providers could be harmed by medical error, causing them injury or psychological/emotional harm. To elaborate, healthcare providers could be very hard on themselves for making a mistake that causes a medical error and it could cause them serious psychological and/or emotional harm. (IHI PS 103)

Analyze at least two challenges and two advantages associated with using checklists in healthcare to reduce human error and patient harm.

rlfairbanks3 — 2024-11-14 23:07:00 UTC

Checklists can be very lengthy and can consist of a large amount of items which can cause confusion for healthcare providers when using the checklists. (Gawande, 18)
Sometimes in healthcare, events cannot be predicted. Therefore, checklists cannot be useful during events that do not go exactly as predicted. There may be steps that have to be taken that stray away from the process that the checklist lays out. (Gawande, 14)
1. An advantage to using a checklist in the healthcare system is that healthcare providers will have an outline of necessary processes and procedures that they will have to complete when taking care of a patient. It will allow for healthcare providers to be less likely to miss a step during the care-taking process. (Harris, 2021)
2. Checklists help hold healthcare providers accountable for various tasks that have to be completed when caring for a patient. (Harris, 2021)

Examine the role communication has on the safety of patient care.

rlfairbanks3 — 2024-11-14 23:10:17 UTC

Communication is vital to proper safety of patient care because of the various factors that are involved in taking care of a patient. For example, during shift changes, it is vital that healthcare staff communicate with each other about the progress of patients' care and what has been done as well as what needs to still be done after the shift change. If that communication is lacking, there will be an uncertainty as to the condition of the patient as well as what progress the healthcare providers have made with the patient (Ifrim RA, 2022)

Develop a discussion board question or journal prompt you would like to have had in this course: How should checklists be integrated into current technology that is used in the healthcare system?

rlfairbanks3 — 2024-11-14 23:16:00 UTC

Checklists should be integrated into the various technological platforms that are used by healthcare providers. For example, checklists can be programmed into a computer system that is used for patient charting. Therefore, when a specific condition is inputted into the patient's chart, the healthcare provider is able to view a checklist of tasks that should be completed by the provider to properly care for the patient. Once a task is completed, the healthcare provider can "click off" the task and continue on the list until all proper tasks have been completed. This will help healthcare providers know exactly what to do when treating a patient as well as help with communication with other staff members in case of shift changes or other staff changes.

rlfairbanks3 — 2024-11-14 23:18:03 UTC

rlfairbanks3 — 2024-11-14 23:21:17 UTC

Works Cited

rlfairbanks3 — 2024-12-05 02:14:00 UTC

Advanced Solutions International, Inc. “PS 103: Human Factors and Safety_Student Version.” IHI Education Platform, Institute for Healthcare Improvement , education.ihi.org/topclass/searchCatalog.do?catId=0. Accessed 4 Oct. 2024.

Gawande, Atul. The Checklist Manifesto: How To Get Things Right. Picador, 2010.

Harris, K., & Russ, S. (2021). Patient-completed safety checklists as an empowerment tool for patient involvement in patient safety: concepts, considerations and recommendations. Future healthcare journal, 8(3), e567–e573. https://doi.org/10.7861/fhj.2021-0122

Ifrim, R. A., Klugarová, J., Măguriță, D., Zazu, M., Mazilu, D. C., & Klugar, M. (2022). Communication, an important link between healthcare providers: a best practice implementation project. JBI evidence implementation, 20(S1), S41–S48. https://doi.org/10.1097/XEB.0000000000000319