What Do Nursing Students Learn About Patient Safety? Essay Example

An experience early on in my career involving a patient where rounds were not completed as required by the unit due to a non-urgent personal phone call led to an unanticipated yet preventable patient fall. In this situation, the lack of follow through regarding the patient led to a situation that posed an ethical dilemma, as personal calls are not supposed to be taken during shift unless it is an absolute emergency. Therefore, I broke the rules and did not give the attention that my patient deserved.

This experience demonstrated my lack of focus and commitment to my profession at the required level, as I was distracted and did not recognize the urgency of rounds during this stage. However, after my DNP education and additional experience, I recognized that this situation is highly unethical and could never happen again on any nursing unit. Early on in my career, my “brand” was less than desirable due to my lack of experience and overall attitude; however, I have learned that I must place all of my focus on my patients by conducting rounds as required (Chism, 2013).

This situation offered a number of lessons regarding my role in the nursing profession that have enabled me to move forward and to identify my priorities. I now recognize that patient safety must be a critical priority at all times, as my DNP education has enabled me to develop a greater focus on my professional responsibilities in treating patients (Wachter, 2012). My education has been largely beneficial in advancing my knowledge and understanding of the importance of timely rounds in promoting patient safety and in supporting patient needs more effectively (Tella et.al, 2014). Furthermore, my education has established a precedent for improving compliance in regards to patient safety in order to protect patients from unnecessary risk or harm that could further compromise their health and cause possible injury on the nursing unit (Ginsburg, Tregunno, & Norton, 2013).

References

Chism, L.A. (2013). The Doctor of Nursing Practice: a guidebook for role development and professional issues. Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Ginsburg, L. R., Tregunno, D., & Norton, P. G. (2013). Self-reported patient safety competence among new graduates in medicine, nursing and pharmacy.BMJ quality & safety, 22(2), 147-154.

Tella, S., Liukka, M., Jamookeeah, D., Smith, N. J., Partanen, P., & Turunen, H. (2014). What Do Nursing Students Learn About Patient Safety? An Integrative Literature. Journal of nursing education, 53(1), 7.

Wachter, R. M. (2012). Understanding patient safety. McGraw Hill Medical.