ABSTRACT
Systems that provide healthcare workers with the opportunity ot report hazards, hazardous situations errors, close calls and adverse events make it possible for an organization that receives such reports tu use these opportunities to learn and /or hold people accountable for their actions. When organizational learning is the primary goal, reporting should be confidential, voluntary and easy to perform and should lead to risk mitigation strategies following appropriate analysis; conversely, when the goal is accountability, reporting is more likely to be made mandatory. reporting systems do not necessarily equate to safer patient care and have been criticized for capturing too many mundane events but only a small minority of important events. reporting has been inappropriately equated with patients safety activity and mistakenly used for "measuring" system safety. However, if properly designed and supported, a reporting system can be an important component of an organizational strategy ot foster a safety culture.
Subject(s)
Organizational Culture , Patient Safety , Risk Management , Delivery of Health Care/standards , Delivery of Health Care/statistics & numerical data , Humans , Medical Errors/statistics & numerical data , Organizational Innovation , Patient Safety/statistics & numerical data , Risk Management/organization & administrationABSTRACT
Florence Nightingale and subsequent nurse scholars have written about the impact of the environment on human health. Nightingale described, and staked out, the nurse's role in optimizing environments for healing. Since Nightingale's time numerous scholars have documented that environmental conditions play a major role in the health of individuals and populations. As nurses become more informed about the environment as a determinant of human health, they will be able to advocate more effectively for environmental conditions that promote health. This article provides both theoretical and practical perspectives to integrate environmental concerns into nursing practice. It recommends specific actions nurses can undertake to improve the environment within the health care setting. In particular the article provides a historical review of an environmental focus in nursing, discusses ways to manage both upstream waste and downstream waste (solid, biohazard, and hazardous chemical wastes) so as to decrease environmental pollution, and recommends specific nursing actions to promote a healthy environment within our health care agencies.
