“Chasing Zero” Harm

Assignment Details.
 

Nurses and other caregivers who commit mistakes are often referred to as being on the "sharp-end" of the error because they perform the actual procedure or give the medication that leads to a bad outcome. Traditionally, they received all the blame when a mistake occurred. Current error management strategies, like those discussed in “Chasing Zero,” try to change the systems that contribute to significant error.  Link for the video is   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtSbgUuXdaw

Based on the video, provide an example from your practice or institution of a “Chasing Zero” improvement that helps prevent health care error (for example, by themselves, automated dispensing cabinets, e.g. Pyxis machines, were developed primarily for revenue capture and inventory control, not patient safety).

Note: Initial answers to the discussion question must be substantive and in the range of 150–300 words. Any references should be properly cited following APA formatting guidelines. 

It is undeniably true that nurses and caregivers found guilty of committing mistakes are considered to be on the “sharp-end” of the errors since they are directly involved in the creation of the errors that result in undesired health outcomes. Based on the video, nurses and other caregivers can prevent such errors that lead to the deaths of millions of patients by ensuring zero harm. According to the video, zero harm is possible because most of the mistakes often result from system failure and other mistakes that are all caused by human errors (qsen.org, n.d). These errors can be prevented and achieve a zero error objective. An example of “Chasing Zero” improvement that helps prevent health care errors is the application of the staff led the innovation of having shared rounds. 

Shared rounds in the hospital help nurses and patients in the process of passing information during their shift change and make the patients as well as their families part of their own safety net. This practice is essential in “Chasing the Zero” harm in the hospital because sometimes nurses and other caregivers often forget that the patient is also a part of the health care team (Vijayakumar et al., 2019). By performing the rounds, the patients often feel more involved and reassured that the nurse in the next shift would be aware of precisely what is going on with them. This practice eliminates human errors that arise due to confusion during handoff shifts.

References

qsen.org. (n.d). Chasing Zero: Winning the War on Healthcare Harm. Retrieved 23 February 2020, from https://qsen.org/publications/videos/chasing-zero-winning-the-war-on-healthcare-harm/

Vijayakumar, S., Duggar, W. N., Packianathan, S., Morris, B., & Yang, C. C. (2019). Chasing Zero Harm in Radiation Oncology: Using Pre-treatment Peer Review. Frontiers in oncology, 9.