Has the COVID Pandemic Strengthened or Weakened Health Care Teams? A Field Guide to Healthy Workforce Best Practices.

During the 2020 global pandemic crisis, some health care teams pulled together while others fell apart. The teams who pulled together put aside their differences and became stronger, putting their patients first and then each other. Those teams grew stronger, but some teams completely fell apart. They spent their days nitpicking, complaining, and arguing-making decisions based on what was best for themselves, not patients or their coworkers. The common denominator in determining how well teams performed was the leader. Employees looked to their leaders to successfully lead them through crisis, whether it was on a small or global scale. Depending on leader behaviors, the leader strengthened or weakened the team; trust was built or broken. That is a heavy burden to carry knowing that employees were so dependent on them and how they showed up every day. What lessons can leaders learn from the coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic that can help them strengthen and sustain a healthy, professional, and supportive workforce culture during a crisis and beyond?

The importance of upholding the duty of candour during patient care.

In light of recent media coverage, Emeritus Professor Alan Glasper, from the University of Southampton, discusses polices and guidance pertinent to the duty of candour.

Causes of medical errors and its under-reporting amongst pediatric nurses in Iran: a qualitative study.

OBJECTIVES: To explore the causes of medical errors (ME) and under-reporting amongst pediatric nurses at an Iranian teaching hospital. DESIGN: A qualitative study, based on individual, in-depth, semi-structured interviews and content analysis approach. SETTINGS: The study was conducted at the Pediatric Department of the largest tertiary general and teaching hospital in Shiraz, southern Iran. PARTICIPANTS: The study population was all pediatrics nurses who work at Pediatric Department and they had been trained on ME, as well as methods to report them through the hospital's ME reporting system. Purposive sampling was used by selecting key informants until data saturation was achieved and no more new information was obtained. Finally, 18 pediatric nurses were interviewed. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Pediatrics nurses' views on the causes of ME and under-reporting. RESULTS: We found five main factors causing ME and under-reporting: personal factors, workplace factors, managerial factors, work culture and error reporting system. These factors were further classified into proximal and distal factors. Proximal factors had direct relationship with ME and distal factors were contextual factors. CONCLUSION: Causes of ME and under-reporting amongst pediatric nurses are complex and intertwined. Both proximal and distal factors need to be simultaneously addressed using context-specific approaches. Further research on other groups of healthcare workers and using a quantitative approach will be beneficial to elucidate the most appropriate interventions.

A revised MISSCARE survey: Results from pilot testing.

BACKGROUND: Missed nursing care has been recognized as a universal patient care issue that affects outcomes for patients, nurses, and healthcare institutions. The MISSCARE Survey was developed to measure and determine the reasons for missed nursing care episodes. An extensive literature review and expert nurse opinion revealed five additional reasons for missing care that the authors utilized to revise the Survey. METHODS: The revised MISSCARE Survey was pilot tested with a group of 145 nursing staff from a public, non-profit, acute care hospital in the Midwestern U.S. RESULTS: Analysis indicated favorable results for the revised Survey's acceptability, reliability, and construct validity. CONCLUSION: Based on the initial pilot study results, the authors recommend further use and study of the revised MISSCARE Survey with other nursing populations and additional psychometric testing.

Identification of factors which affect the tendency towards and attitudes of emergency unit nurses to make medical errors.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To determine individual and professional factors affecting the tendency of emergency unit nurses to make medical errors and their attitudes towards these errors in Turkey. BACKGROUND: Compared with other units, the emergency unit is an environment where there is an increased tendency for making medical errors due to its intensive and rapid pace, noise and complex and dynamic structure. DESIGN: A descriptive cross-sectional study. METHODS: The study was carried out from 25 July 2014-16 September 2015 with the participation of 284 nurses who volunteered to take part in the study. Data were gathered using the data collection survey for nurses, the Medical Error Tendency Scale and the Medical Error Attitude Scale. RESULTS: It was determined that 40.1% of the nurses previously witnessed medical errors, 19.4% made a medical error in the last year, 17.6% of medical errors were caused by medication errors where the wrong medication was administered in the wrong dose, and none of the nurses filled out a case report form about the medical errors they made. Regarding the factors that caused medical errors in the emergency unit, 91.2% of the nurses stated excessive workload as a cause; 85.1% stated an insufficient number of nurses; and 75.4% stated fatigue, exhaustion and burnout. CONCLUSIONS: The study showed that nurses who loved their job were satisfied with their unit and who always worked during day shifts had a lower medical error tendency. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: It is suggested to consider the following actions: increase awareness about medical errors, organise training to reduce errors in medication administration, develop procedures and protocols specific to the emergency unit health care and create an environment which is not punitive wherein nurses can safely report medical errors.

Iranian nurses' experience of "being a wrongdoer": A phenomenological study.

BACKGROUND: Patient safety, which is a patient's right, can be threatened by nursing errors. Furthermore, nurses' feeling of "being a wrongdoer" in response to nursing errors can influence the quality of care they deliver. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES: To explore the meaning of Iranian nurses' experience of "being a wrongdoer." RESEARCH DESIGN: A phenomenological approach was used to explore nurses' lived experiences. Nurses were recruited purposively to take part in semistructured interviews, and the data collected from these interviews were analyzed using Van Manen's thematic analysis. Participants and research context: Eight nurses working in three private or governmental hospitals in Tehran, Iran. Ethical consideration: The research design was approved in each participating hospital, and all interviews were carried out at a predetermined time in a private place. FINDINGS: Five themes were extracted from the data: "wandering in unpleasant feelings" (with two subthemes: "unpleasant physical feelings" and "unpleasant emotions"), "wandering in the conscience court" (with three subthemes: "being the accused," "being the victim," and "being the judge"), "being arrested in time," "time for change" (with three subthemes: "promoting accountability," "promoting learning," and "strengthening supportive relationships"), and "spiritual exercise." DISCUSSION: Some of our results are supported by the model of self-reconciliation and the recovery trajectory of "second victims" theory. CONCLUSION: The meaning of "being a wrongdoer" has positive and negative aspects. Feelings of wandering provide nurses the opportunity to reflect on and re-embrace the professional and moral responsibility of nursing. Nursing managers can convert their "defeats" into a prelude to learning, increase their accountability, and improve the quality of nursing care.

The impact of long work hours and shift work on cognitive errors in nurses.

AIM: Pilot study to examine the impact of long work hours and shift work on cognitive errors in nurses. BACKGROUND: Twelve-hour shifts are more commonly used in hospital settings and there is growing concern over the impact that extended and irregular work hours have on nurses' well-being and performance. METHOD: Twenty-eight nurses working different shifts (8-hr days and 12-hr rotation) participated in this study. Nurses were assessed at the beginning of four consecutive shifts using actigraphy, a sleep diary and an after work questionnaire. RESULTS: Nurses working 12-hr rotations had less total sleep time and less sleep efficiency than 8-hr day nurses. Twelve-hour rotation nurses also napped more than their counterparts. There were no differences between the two groups with respect to cognitive errors. CONCLUSIONS: Twelve-hour rotations have a negative effect on nurses' sleep patterns. There is no evidence indicating 12-hr rotations increased errors. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Nurse managers can implement specific strategies, such as greater shift work flexibility and designated quiet time, to reduce the effects of disturbed sleep patterns in nurses.

Patient Experience: A Call to Action for Nurse Leadership.

Health care organizations recognize that it is difficult to achieve consistent excellence in patient experience. Nursing leaders cannot underestimate the importance of the role they play in efforts to improve the patient experience. This article outlines a call to action for nurse leaders to consider reframing the patient experience as a focal point for the entire organization's strategic approach and tactics. This involves facilitating a dialogue about the organization's patient experience definition; building a strong, positive organization culture; creating processes to ensure the engagement of all voices; ensuring a focus across the continuum of care; and addressing the key drivers of patient experience excellence.

Nurses' Error Management in Critical Care Units: A Qualitative Study.

Nursing errors are common in critical care units, and nurses are in the first line of confrontation. The purpose of this study was to explore the processes of managing nursing errors in critical care units in Iran and to develop a theoretical explanation of the phenomenon. This was a grounded theory study. We recruited a sample of 18 critical care nurses for the study. The sampling method was purposive and then changed to theoretical. The data were collected through in-depth interviews. For data analysis, we employed the constant comparative analysis technique. The core category of the study was "continuous situational analysis." The main categories were situational analysis and error removal. When nurses confronted an error, they opted for analyzing the error situation in terms of the nature of error, probable consequences, monitoring, and life threat. Accordingly, they employed error removal strategies such as self-action, cooperation, notifying, and censoring. These steps happened concurrently, successively, or cyclically. To manage their committed errors, nurses usually go through an informal process. Nurse-managers need to design effective error management strategies and require the practicing nurses to adhere to them. A practical model for effective prevention and management of nursing errors in critical care units is necessary.

Time-Out and Checklists: A Survey of Rural and Urban Operating Room Personnel.

Surgical safety checklists were introduced to improve patient safety. Urban and rural hospitals are influenced by differing factors, but how these factors affect patient care is unknown. This study examined time-out and checklist processes in rural and urban operating rooms and found that although checklist use has been adopted in many organizations, use is inconsistent across both settings. An understanding of these variations is needed to improve utilization.

Improving Nursing Care: Examining Errors of Omission.

This cross-sectional study examined missed care in a Central New York community using the MISSCARE Survey. A great deal of the research on missed care has been focused in the midwestern United States. This study replicates a midwestern study to determine results in other parts of the United States.

Nurses' role in medical error recovery: an integrative review.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to conduct an integrative review of the literature to fully understand nurses' role in medical error recovery. BACKGROUND: Despite focused efforts on error prevention, the prevalence of medical errors occurring in the health care system remains a concern. Patient harm can be reduced or prevented by adequate recovery processes that include identifying, interrupting and correcting medical errors in a timely fashion. Both medical error prevention and recovery are critical components in advancing patient safety, yet little is known about nurses' role in medical error recovery. DESIGN: An integrative review of the literature, guided by Whittmore and Knafl's (Journal of Advanced Nursing, 5, 2005, 546) five-step process, was conducted for the period between 2000-2015. A comprehensive search yielded twelve articles for this review. METHODS: The level and quality of evidence of the included articles was rated using a five-level rating system and the Johns Hopkins Nursing Quality of Evidence Appraisal developed by ©The Johns Hopkins Hospital/The Johns Hopkins University. RESULTS: The medical error recovery rate varied across specialty nursing populations with nurses recovering, on average, as many as one error per shift to as few as one error per week. Nurses rely on knowing the patient, environment and plan of care to aid in medical error recovery. CONCLUSIONS: Nurses play a unique yet invisible role in identifying, interrupting and recovering medical errors. Individual and organisational factors influencing nurses' ability to recover medical errors remain unclear. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Greater understanding of nurse characteristics and organisational factors that influence error recovery can foster the development of effective strategies to detect and correct medical errors and enable organisations to reduce negative outcomes.

Nurses' experiences with errors in nursing.

BACKGROUND: Health care organizations seek to maximize the reporting of medical errors to improve patient safety. PURPOSE: This study explored licensed nurses' decision-making with regard to reporting medical errors. METHODS: Grounded theory methods guided the study. Thirty nurses from adult intensive care units were interviewed, and qualitative analysis was used to develop a theoretical framework based on their narratives. DISCUSSION: The theoretical model was titled "Learning Lessons from the Error." The concept of learning lessons was central to the theoretical model. The model included five stages: Being Off-Kilter, Living the Error, Reporting or Telling About the Error, Living the Aftermath, and Lurking in Your Mind. CONCLUSION: This study illuminates the unique experiences of licensed nurses who have made medical errors. The findings can inform initiatives to improve error reporting and to support nurses who have made errors.

[The error, source of learning]. / L'erreur, une source d'apprentissage.

The error itself is not recognised as a fault. It is the intentionality which differentiates between an error and a fault. An error is unintentional while a fault is a failure to respect known rules. The risk of error is omnipresent in health institutions. Public authorities have therefore set out a series of measures to reduce this risk.

Aged-care nurses in rural Tasmanian clinical settings more likely to think hypothetical medication error would be reported and disclosed compared to hospital and community nurses.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to determine the likelihood that rural nurses perceive a hypothetical medication error would be reported in their workplace. DESIGN: This employs cross-sectional survey using hypothetical error scenario with varying levels of harm. SETTING: Clinical settings in rural Tasmania. PARTICIPANTS: Participants were 116 eligible surveys received from registered and enrolled nurses. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Frequency of responses indicating the likelihood that severe, moderate and near miss (no harm) scenario would 'always' be reported or disclosed. RESULTS: Eighty per cent of nurses viewed a severe error would 'always' be reported, 64.8% a moderate error and 45.7% a near-miss error. In regards to disclosure, 54.7% felt this was 'always' likely to occur for a severe error, 44.8% for a moderate error and 26.4% for a near miss. Across all levels of severity, aged-care nurses were more likely than nurses in other settings to view error to 'always' be reported (ranging from 72-96%, P = 0.010 to 0.042,) and disclosed (68-88%, P = 0.000). Those in a management role were more likely to view error to 'always' be disclosed compared to those in a clinical role (50-77.3%, P = 0.008-0.024). CONCLUSION: Further research in rural clinical settings is needed to improve the understanding of error management and disclosure.

The experience of nursing students who make mistakes in clinical.

The experience of nursing students who make mistakes during clinical practice is poorly understood. The literature identifies clinical practice mistakes as a significant issue in nursing practice and education but there is very little research on the topic. This study used a grounded theory approach to explore the experience of undergraduate nursing students who had made at least one mistake in their clinical practice. What emerged is a theory that illuminates the process of how students move through the positive and negative elements of the mistake experience the core variable that emerged from the study was "living through the mistake experience." The mistake experience was clearly a traumatic process for nursing students and students reported feeling unprepared and lacking the capability to manage the mistake experience. A number of recommendations for nursing education are proposed.

Blood transfusion sampling and a greater role for error recovery.

INTRODUCTION: Patient identification errors in pre-transfusion blood sampling ('wrong blood in tube') are a persistent area of risk. These errors can potentially result in life-threatening complications. Current measures to address root causes of incidents and near misses have not resolved this problem and there is a need to look afresh at this issue. PROJECT PURPOSE: This narrative review of the literature is part of a wider system-improvement project designed to explore and seek a better understanding of the factors that contribute to transfusion sampling error as a prerequisite to examining current and potential approaches to error reduction. SEARCH STRATEGY: A broad search of the literature was undertaken to identify themes relating to this phenomenon. KEY DISCOVERIES: Two key themes emerged from the literature. Firstly, despite multi-faceted causes of error, the consistent element is the ever-present potential for human error. Secondly, current focus on error prevention could potentially be augmented with greater attention to error recovery. CONCLUSIONS: Exploring ways in which clinical staff taking samples might learn how to better identify their own errors is proposed to add to current safety initiatives.