ENLC 556 / Patient Safety White Paper
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Throughout the ENLC 556 course, students learned about the science and development of a culture of safety as it applies to healthcare and how to analyze factors in the culture influencing the development of safety in a variety of health care settings. With this knowledge, students were expected to know how to apply measurement and evaluation strategies to the improvement of health care system processes and outcomes, and to conduct Root Cause Analysis (RCA) and Failure Mode Effects Analysis (FMEA) in order to prevent future untoward outcomes.
The culmination of these teachings resulted in an authoritative report (white paper) providing information on an issue with a proposal for a solution. Students were able to select and explore a health care technology hazard or healthcare organization patient safety issue from the Emergency Care Research Institute (ECRI)’s Top Ten Patient Safety Concerns for Healthcare Organizations. Components of the white paper were developed throughout the course and compiled into one cohesive paper by the end of the course.
Device Cleaning, Disinfection, and Sterilization was chosen as my healthcare safety issue, as I wanted to examine how failure to follow proper sterilization protocol at any point could result in a compromised device and devastating effects for patients. To avoid outbreaks of potentially deadly diseases, healthcare facilities must ensure that sufficient staff and equipment are available to handle the reprocessing workload; that staff follow current guidelines and manufacturer recommendations; and that they work to create a team environment for members of the surgical and central sterile processing teams.
This paper meets the Systems Design and Management Outcome in several ways. Students were required to demonstrate knowledge and skills in applying work flow analysis, an understanding of FEMA applied to a system design, and understanding of RCA applied to a failed system and/or device.
The culmination of these teachings resulted in an authoritative report (white paper) providing information on an issue with a proposal for a solution. Students were able to select and explore a health care technology hazard or healthcare organization patient safety issue from the Emergency Care Research Institute (ECRI)’s Top Ten Patient Safety Concerns for Healthcare Organizations. Components of the white paper were developed throughout the course and compiled into one cohesive paper by the end of the course.
Device Cleaning, Disinfection, and Sterilization was chosen as my healthcare safety issue, as I wanted to examine how failure to follow proper sterilization protocol at any point could result in a compromised device and devastating effects for patients. To avoid outbreaks of potentially deadly diseases, healthcare facilities must ensure that sufficient staff and equipment are available to handle the reprocessing workload; that staff follow current guidelines and manufacturer recommendations; and that they work to create a team environment for members of the surgical and central sterile processing teams.
This paper meets the Systems Design and Management Outcome in several ways. Students were required to demonstrate knowledge and skills in applying work flow analysis, an understanding of FEMA applied to a system design, and understanding of RCA applied to a failed system and/or device.