Healthcare system errors lower the quality of healthcare services. They are associated with poor patient outcomes and high treatment costs. In addition, healthcare system errors have a negative financial implications on a healthcare facility (Waldenu.edu, n.d.). These errors are likely to attract penalties and reduce reimbursements for facilities that use value-based reimbursement programs. Various etiological factors have been implicated in healthcare system errors. They include the lack of open communication, the inadequacy of policies, optimized staff ratios, technical problems, and the lack of appropriate health technology (Ahmed et al., 2019; Waldenu.edu, n.d.). Data demonstrate that healthcare system errors account for approximately 98,000 mortalities annually in the USA (Waldenu.edu, n.d.).
Various issues constitute healthcare system errors. They include medication errors, misdiagnosis, surgical injuries, wrong transfusions, pressure ulcers, and wrong placement of medical devices (Ahmed et al., 2019; Pelzang & Hutchinson, 2018). As a nurse, I play a key role in reducing the incidence of healthcare system errors. To accomplish this, I should work in concert with interdisciplinary team members to uphold care coordination. I will improve the performance of key benchmark metrics and nursing-sensitive indicators by reducing the incidences of healthcare system errors. During my clinical practice, I witnessed a case of medication error. My colleague requested me to double-check the medication before she could administer them. Subsequently, this enabled me to pinpoint the wrong patient’s identity. Administration to the wrong patient would increase the risk of hypersensitivity reactions, toxicities, and adverse drug events.
I used three online medical databases to access peer-reviewed articles. These databases are PubMed, Google Scholar, and The Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature. These databases have customized features that enabled me to select journal articles published within the past five years. I used keywords such as “healthcare” and “errors” to ensure that the retrieved journals were relevant to my topic.
I used the currency, relevance, authority, accuracy, and purpose (CRAAP) criteria to assess the credibility of my information sources. I selected peer-reviewed articles and information from credible organizational websites. I upheld currency by selecting articles published within the past five years. I ensured that the credentials and qualifications of the authors were relevant for them to publish healthcare-related information. In addition, I checked for the logical flow of ideas, citations, and references to ensure accuracy. Furthermore, I counterchecked the purpose of the journal articles to ensure that they were harmonious with my topic.
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