Applying Library Research Skills For Learners At Capella Uni

Applying Library Research Skills Learner’s Name Capella University NHS4000: Developing a Health Care Perspective

With the advent of new technologies and treatment methods, health care organizations are facing many challenges. Patient safety is one such challenge that needs to be addressed not only by health care professionals but also by other stakeholders in the business. Ensuring patient safety is essential for providing quality health care. As a medical transcriptionist, I am responsible for converting voice-recorded reports of health care professionals into text. Although I am not directly involved in treating patients, any errors that occur during the transcription process could result in inaccurate documentation of medical data.

For example, one of my colleagues documented the dosage of Lasix as 400 mg instead of 40 mg in a discharge summary. When the health care professional who had dictated the report reviewed it, he was able to spot the error in the dosage and correct it, which helped prevent the patient from having a dangerous reaction to the incorrect dosage. This incident helped me realize the importance of preparing accurate documents for ensuring patient safety and delivering quality care. I developed a keen interest in issues relating to patient safety ever since. Identifying Academic Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles Using Summon, a search engine that searches across Capella University Library's databases, I accessed articles that are carried by databases such as ProQuest Central and PubMed Central.

I used keywords such as “health care issues,” “patient safety,” and “quality of care” to search for peer-reviewed literature relevant to patient safety. Using the advanced search option, I limited my search to scholarly and peer-reviewed journals, choosing “journal article” as the publication type, “medicine” and “nursing” as the subjects, and articles published within the last five years as the publication date range.

Assessing Credibility and Relevance of Information Sources

To ensure credibility, I selected peer-reviewed journal articles that were published within the past five years. I made sure that the selected sources were published by authors who were well-known in the field of health care and had extensive professional experience. To ensure that the chosen sources of information were relevant to the topic, I confirmed that they contained accepted facts and opinions on issues relating to patient safety and quality care. I also checked whether each information source had a clearly defined purpose and contained pertinent information about patient safety and quality care.

Annotated Bibliography

Kronick, R., Arnold, S., & Brady, J. (2016, August 2). Improving safety for hospitalized patients: Much progress but many challenges remain. The JAMA Network, 316(5), 489–490.

This article provides a viewpoint on the progress that hospitals have made toward reducing patient harm and understand the factors that have led to this progress. The authors cite reports released by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) to analyze the occurrence of issues relating to patient safety in hospitals. The authors hypothesize that improvement in health care safety for hospitalized patients may have been possible because of reasons such as an awareness of the importance of improving safety culture with evidence-based suggestions. They conclude by emphasizing the need for ongoing research and strategic initiatives to sustain and enhance safety efforts. They argue that investing in patient safety research programs and ensuring that patient safety remains a high priority for hospital leadership can significantly reduce adverse events, including medication errors and hospital-acquired infections.

This article is relevant because it examines evidence of progress in reducing patient harms and discusses strategies for further safety improvements. It underscores the importance of a culture of safety and leadership commitment, aligning with my focus on systemic approaches to patient safety.

Morris, S., Otto, N. C., & Golemboski, K. (2013). Improving patient safety and healthcare quality in the 21st century—Competencies required of future medical laboratory science practitioners. Clinical Laboratory Science, 26(4), 200–204.

This article raises concerns about the adequacy of training for health care professionals, especially medical laboratory scientists (MLS), in achieving core competencies related to patient safety as identified by the Institute of Medicine (IOM). The authors discuss curriculum enhancements to integrate patient safety principles and underscore the importance of equipping future practitioners with knowledge and skills to prevent errors, such as mislabeling or incorrect test interpretation. They conclude that aligning MLS education with IOM competencies can lead to improved patient outcomes. This article is particularly relevant because it offers practical solutions for embedding patient safety into health care training programs, highlighting the education-to-practice pipeline as a critical focus for future improvements.

My interest in this article stems from understanding how foundational education influences patient safety and recognizing the need for continuous professional development.

Parand, A., Dopson, S., Renz, A., & Vincent, C. (2014). The role of hospital managers in quality and patient safety: A systematic review. BMJ Open, 4(9). https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2014-005874

This systematic review analyzes how hospital managers influence quality and safety outcomes. The authors find that managers who dedicate more than 25% of their time to safety initiatives tend to promote better safety outcomes. However, many managers spend less time than recommended due to competing priorities. The review proposes a model called the Input-Process-Output (IPO) framework to guide managerial involvement in quality assurance activities. The authors emphasize the importance of leadership commitment and suggest organizational reforms to facilitate management engagement in safety initiatives. This article is vital for understanding the organizational and leadership dimensions of patient safety, highlighting that effective management significantly impacts safety culture and outcomes.

My focus on this source was driven by an interest in leadership roles and the organizational factors affecting patient safety, applying system-level perspectives to safety improvement strategies.

Ulrich, B., & Kear, T. (2014). Patient safety and patient safety culture: Foundations of excellent health care delivery. Nephrology Nursing Journal, 41(5), 447–456, 505.

This article explores the concepts of patient safety and safety culture within health care organizations. The authors discuss how safety is a collective responsibility and highlight tools like the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire and the Patient Safety Culture Improvement Tool which help organizations assess their safety climate. Strategies to foster a safety culture include leadership engagement, staffing adequacy, and open communication. The article emphasizes that safety culture is fundamental to preventing adverse events and improving overall patient outcomes. It advocates for organizational commitment to safety at all levels and underscores teamwork and communication as critical components of a positive safety environment.

This article is relevant because it provides actionable strategies for developing and sustaining a safety culture, reinforcing the importance of organizational, team-based approaches to patient safety.

Learnings from the Research

Through reviewing these scholarly articles, I gained a deeper understanding of the multifaceted nature of patient safety. For example, Kronick et al. (2016) highlighted systemic issues such as hospital safety culture and the importance of leadership in reducing harm, including common adverse events like pressure ulcers and infections. Morris et al. (2013) emphasized the critical role of education and competencies for laboratory professionals and their contribution to safety. Parand et al. (2014) demonstrated how managerial engagement directly correlates with safety outcomes and proposed a framework for managerial involvement. Ulrich and Kear (2014) underscored the importance of a safety culture characterized by teamwork and open communication. These insights reveal that improving patient safety requires a comprehensive approach involving leadership, culture, training, and systemic reforms, which collectively contribute to safer health care environments. This research has strengthened my appreciation of the complexity of patient safety issues and the importance of evidence-based strategies to address them.

References

• Kronick, R., Arnold, S., & Brady, J. (2016). Improving safety for hospitalized patients: Much progress but many challenges remain. The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), 316(5), 489–490.
• Morris, S., Otto, N. C., & Golemboski, K. (2013). Improving patient safety and healthcare quality in the 21st century—Competencies required of future medical laboratory science practitioners. Clinical Laboratory Science, 26(4), 200–204.
• Parand, A., Dopson, S., Renz, A., & Vincent, C. (2014). The role of hospital managers in quality and patient safety: A systematic review. BMJ Open, 4(9). https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2014-005874
• Ulrich, B., & Kear, T. (2014). Patient safety and patient safety culture: Foundations of excellent health care delivery. Nephrology Nursing Journal, 41(5), 447–456, 505.