Preventable medical errors are a major concern in healthcare today. Healthcare professionals today are knowledgeable and well-trained for the job at hand, however the healthcare system continues to be plagued by medical errors. Therefore, it is importance that healthcare providers, including nurses, call for new roles and new responsibilities to care effectively for patients and improve quality standards. Nurses, constituting the largest percentage of healthcare professionals, have the opportunity to generate changes in healthcare. This can best be achieved by making improvements in education and nursing practice. This is where regulatory agencies and nursing education associations, such as the American Association of Colleges of Nursing,
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Despite these developments, errors occur every day in our healthcare system that puts the very lives we strive to protect in danger. With this being said, a series of guidelines have been established by the QSEN institute to improve quality and establish a culture of safety. Their main objective, through quality and safety improvements, is to reduce the alarming number of preventable medical errors in healthcare today. Competencies established by QSEN, Quality and Safety Education for Nurses, set the guidelines for safety and “uphold ethical principles to do no harm” (Sherwood & Zomorodi, 2014, p. 16). It is comprised of six competencies which focus on safety, quality improvements, patient-centered care, teamwork, evidence-based practice, and …show more content…
This means nurses play a vital role in the system and have the ability to produce changes in safety standards. Because nurses can promote changes in the system, it is imperative to incorporate QSEN core values into nursing education. By integrating safety awareness into nursing curricula, nursing students will be better acquainted with the significance of safety in patient care, thus resulting in safer nurses. According to Jones (2013), pre-licensure students were encouraged to promote a culture of safety and report any occurrences which could result in harm (p. 144). In the clinical setting, the students reported safety hazards such as patients missing ID bands, call lights out of reach, and beds not in their lowest positions (Jones, 2013, p.144). Other studies found that by integrating simulation into lecture and clinical settings there was a strong impact in students understanding of safety and promoted confidence among pre-licensure students (Berndt, 2014). They found that nursing students that had no simulation training where involved in more medication errors than students who had simulation integration in their curriculum (Berndt, 2014, p. 29). In conclusion, incorporation of QSEN in nursing curriculum promotes a culture of safety and awareness that results in safer graduate
Despite these developments, errors occur every day in our healthcare system that puts the very lives we strive to protect in danger. With this being said, a series of guidelines have been established by the QSEN institute to improve quality and establish a culture of safety. Their main objective, through quality and safety improvements, is to reduce the alarming number of preventable medical errors in healthcare today. Competencies established by QSEN, Quality and Safety Education for Nurses, set the guidelines for safety and “uphold ethical principles to do no harm” (Sherwood & Zomorodi, 2014, p. 16). It is comprised of six competencies which focus on safety, quality improvements, patient-centered care, teamwork, evidence-based practice, and …show more content…
This means nurses play a vital role in the system and have the ability to produce changes in safety standards. Because nurses can promote changes in the system, it is imperative to incorporate QSEN core values into nursing education. By integrating safety awareness into nursing curricula, nursing students will be better acquainted with the significance of safety in patient care, thus resulting in safer nurses. According to Jones (2013), pre-licensure students were encouraged to promote a culture of safety and report any occurrences which could result in harm (p. 144). In the clinical setting, the students reported safety hazards such as patients missing ID bands, call lights out of reach, and beds not in their lowest positions (Jones, 2013, p.144). Other studies found that by integrating simulation into lecture and clinical settings there was a strong impact in students understanding of safety and promoted confidence among pre-licensure students (Berndt, 2014). They found that nursing students that had no simulation training where involved in more medication errors than students who had simulation integration in their curriculum (Berndt, 2014, p. 29). In conclusion, incorporation of QSEN in nursing curriculum promotes a culture of safety and awareness that results in safer graduate