Making patients safe is where nursing begins.

by Lars Plougmann/via Flickr

It doesn’t matter how or where a nurse may practice—acute care, long-term care, home health, school nursing—making sure patients are safe is where nursing begins.

In 1999, the famed Institute of Medicine (now the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine) report, To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System, woke us up to the fact that medical errors were causing thousands of deaths annually in the very places where people go to restore their health. In 2004, another report, Keeping Patients Safe: Transforming the Work Environment of Nurses, detailed nursing’s critical role in health care delivery, particularly in ensuring patient safety.

We can always do better.

While there have been significant improvements in reducing adverse events, and nurses are leading many quality improvement initiatives, we can always do better. In May 2016, I wrote the following in an editorial (“A Culture of Safety Stars With Us“):

“Nurses have always been the sentinels, the around-the-clock watchers, detecting the changes that might herald a patient’s deterioration. Nurses are the ones that the system looks to—and often blames—when there’s a failure to rescue.”

This is still true.

This week marks an emphasis on patient safety—it’s what we do every day. In honor of the week, we’ve made the following articles free until March 18. Keep up the good work!

Preventing Newborn Falls While Supporting Family Bonding

The Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority report on events that occurred while newborns were in the care of their families. Newborn falls were the most common events affecting newborn safety.

Beyond Socks, Signs, and Alarms: A Reflective Accountability Model for Fall Prevention

This report from a QI initiative at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania describes an accountability care program that involved incorporating nurse and patient perspectives on falls and on what could have been done to prevent them.

Nursing’s Evolving Role in Patient Safety – Editor’s Pick!

As a history buff, this is one of my favorite articles. A CE article, it explores the nurse’s historical and contemporary role in promoting patient safety, summarizing trends in nursing practice over more than 100 years from analysis of AJN’s historical archives.

Original Research: Identifying Hospitalized Patients at Risk for Harm: A Comparison of Nurse Perceptions vs. Electronic Risk Assessment Tool Scores

This fascinating and well-done study (and CE article) compared nurses’ perceptions of a patient’s harm risk compared with an electronic tool’s identification of high risk or moderate-to-low risk.

Can Your Older Patients Drive Safely?

Aging can substantially reduce drivers’ functional abilities, elevating risk of involvement in motor vehicle accidents and serious injury or death. The authors discuss the specific driving risks adults face as they age and how nurses can raise older patients’ awareness of these risks.