Nursing home drug errors remain hidden
A new study suggests that while nursing home staffers know about virtually all medication errors that occur at their facility, only 5 percent of errors ever get reported to facility managers. To conduct the study, which was recently published in Nursing Forum, a University of Missouri-Columbia nursing researcher reviewed communication patterns, leadership styles and relationships between staff members at five nursing homes. The researcher found that nursing team members were frustrated and burned out. Many nurses felt that care management was disorganized, weren't sure what leaders expected of them, and didn't know what had happened in previous shifts. Given these frustrations, nurses were very reluctant to report medication errors to their managers. Most simply didn't want to know if they'd made a medication mistake, despite the potentially serious consequences. To address these problems, administrators need create a "culture of safety," and solicit feedback and communication from staff on obstacles they face.
To learn more about the study:
- see this University of Missouri release
Related Article:
Seniors at risk for drug interactions. Article
Comments
By Anonymous | Posted 10:43pm | June 19, 2008
As a patient on several occasions due to STAPH/MRSA infections, the problems I found with poor healthcare for patients, came from untrained CNA's. During one particular stay, when I had an active MRSA infection, I was put in a room with an elderly woman in her 80'a who had a huge decubitus sore down to her hip bone, and the CNA would change the dressing, which she wasn't qualified to do. Not only that, but she threw the woman's dirty sheets, with feces due to the woman's diarrhea on the floor instead of placing them directly in the dirty linen container. On top of all of that, she then turned the woman on her side, where the huge sore was, which caused severe pain for the woman.
I immediately contacted the Floor Nursing Supervisor since I used to be an EMT and ICU Nurse Tech and reported the (1) poor treatment of the elderly patient, (2) throwing dirty laundry on the floor instead of placing it directly in the dirty linen container, and (3) me not being placed in isolation with an active STAPH/MRSA hand infection.
The problem lies with the limited Nursing staffing and no real follow up care of the patients after the CNA's care for the very ill patients.
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