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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 5 page research paper that discusses the importance of nonpunitive nursing culture, which tends to support the reporting of medication errors and thereby facilitates systems improvement. Bibliography lists 4 sources.
Page Count:
5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khnpun.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
focus of concern in all areas of healthcare (Devers, Pham and Liu, 2004). Federal initiatives stress that hospitals should implement "compliance programs and reporting systems," which encourage employees to report
all incidents where there was a failure to delivery safe patient care (Wolf and Serembus, 2004, p. 41). Errors in patient care, with medication errors being the most prominent problem,
constitute a danger to patients; however, the resulting disciplinary action or reprisals that may result from reporting such errors alarms practitioners and counteracts efforts to utilize healthcare mistakes as opportunities
that can be utilized for improving delivery systems. For this reason, the Institute of Medicine has called for a redesign of patient care systems that incorporates non-punitive approaches to error
identification. While many healthcare facilities have implemented policies designed to increase the reporting of near misses and actual medication errors, employees continue to hesitate about reporting errors. This is
largely due to a culture of "blame and discipline," which is frequently interpreted as "punishment," as clinicians who have reported errors in good faith have been made to feel humiliated
and consequently experienced reprisal (Wolf and Serembus, 2004, p. 41). Furthermore, recent changes in the law in many states acerbates the reluctance of clinicians to admit mistakes (Wolf and Serembus,
2004). As errors are inevitable, in order to significantly reduce the rate at which they occur, it is imperative that mistakes should be viewed as system defects, within a non-punitive
culture. In their research, Wolf and Serembus encountered nursing managers and administrators who acted "disapprovingly and sometimes aggressively after incidents" and also incidents where physicians denied ever prescribing the
medications in question, which served to shake the trust of the nurses involved (Wolf and Serembus, 2004, p. 42). According to the respondents in their study, "blame and reprimand" are
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