Health, Medicine, Nursing Essay: Analyzing a Current Healthcare Problem
Assessment 3 Instructions: Analyzing a Current Health Care Problem or Issue
Assessment 3 Instructions
Write a 4-6-page analysis of a current problem or issue in health care, including a proposed solution and possible ethical implications.
Introduction
In your health care career, you will be confronted with many problems that demand a solution. By using research skills, you can learn what others are doing and saying about similar problems. Then you can analyze the problem and the people and systems it affects. You can examine potential solutions and their ramifications. This assessment allows you to practice this approach with a real-world problem.
Demonstration of Proficiency
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the course competencies through the following assessment scoring guide criteria:
Competency 1: Apply information literacy and library research skills to obtain scholarly information in the field of health care.
Use scholarly information to describe and explain a health care problem or issue and identify possible causes for it.
Competency 2: Apply scholarly information through critical thinking to solve problems in the field of health care.
Analyze a health care problem or issue by describing the context, explaining why it is important and identifying populations affected by it.
Discuss potential solutions for a health care problem or issue and describe what would be required to implement a solution.
Competency 3: Apply ethical principles and academic standards to the study of health care.
Analyze the ethical implications if a potential solution to a health care problem or issue was implemented.
Competency 4: Write for a specific audience, in appropriate tone and style, in accordance with Capella's writing standards.
Write clearly and logically, with correct use of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and mechanics.
Write following APA style for in-text citations, quotes, and references.
Instructions
Note: The requirements outlined below correspond to the grading criteria in the scoring guide. At a minimum, be sure to address each point. In addition, you are encouraged to review the performance-level descriptions for each criterion to see how your work will be assessed.
Describe the health care problem or issue you selected for use in Assessment 2 (from the Assessment Topic Areas | Transcript media piece) and provide details about it.
Explore your chosen topic. For this, you should use the first four steps of the Socratic Problem-Solving Approach to aid your critical thinking. This approach was introduced in Assessment 2.
Identify possible causes for the problem or issue.
Use scholarly information to describe and explain the health care problem or issue and identify possible causes for it.
Identify at least three scholarly or academic peer-reviewed journal articles about the topic.
You may find the How Do I Find Peer-Reviewed Articles? library guide helpful in locating appropriate references.
You may use articles you found while working on Assessment 2 or you may search the Capella library for other articles.
You may find the applicable Undergraduate Library Research Guide helpful in your search.
Review the Think Critically About Source Quality to help you complete the following:
Assess the credibility of the information sources.
Assess the relevance of the information sources.
Analyze the health care problem or issue.
Describe the setting or context for the problems or issues.
Describe why the problem or issue is important to you.
Identify groups of people affected by the problem or issue.
Provide examples that support your analysis of the problem or issue.
Discuss potential solutions for the health care problem or issue.
Describe what would be required to implement a solution.
Describe potential consequences of ignoring the problem or issue class="ice-no-decoration" data-ice-class="848587">.
Provide the pros and cons for one of the solutions you are proposing.
Analyze the ethical implications if the potential solution (the one for which you provide pros and cons) were to be implemented.
Provide examples from the literature to support the points you are making.
Discuss the pros and cons of implementing the proposed solution from an ethical principle point of view.
Describe what would be required to implement the proposed solution.
Example Assessment: You may use the following to give you an idea of what a Proficient or higher rating on the scoring guide would look like:
Assessment 3 Example [PDF].
Additional Requirements
Your assessment should also meet the following requirements:
Length: 4–6 typed, double-spaced pages, not including the title page and reference page.
Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12 point.
APA template: Use the APA Style Paper Template [DOCX] as the paper format and the APA Style Paper Tutorial [DOC] for guidance.
Written communication: Write clearly and logically, with correct use of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and mechanics.
Using outside sources: Integrate information from outside sources into academic writing by appropriately quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing, following APA style.
References: Integrate information from outside sources to include at least three scholarly or academic peer-reviewed journal articles and three in-text citations within the paper.
APA format: Follow current APA guidelines for in-text citations of outside sources in the body of your paper and also on the reference page.
Organize your paper using the following structure and headings:
Title page. A separate page.
Introduction. A brief one-paragraph statement about the purpose of the paper.
Elements of the problem/issue. Identify the elements of the problem or issue or question.
Analysis. Analyze, define, and frame the problem or issue.
Considering options. Consider solutions, responses, or answers.
Solution. Choose a solution, response, or answer.
Ethical implications. Ethical implications of implementing the solution.
Implementation. Implementation of the potential solution.
Conclusion. One paragraph.
Analyzing a Current Healthcare Problem
Student’s Name
Institution
Analyzing a Current Healthcare Problem
Preventable medical errors are a cause of concern in healthcare as they threaten patient safety. Medical errors can occur in any healthcare setting and can be caused by any medical personnel. According to Shah, Jue, and Mackey (2019), medical errors would be the third major cause of death in the United States (US) if it was classified as a disease. This indicates that addressing preventable medical errors should be an issue of priority in healthcare organizations. This analysis expounds on preventable medical errors by identifying the key elements, possible solutions, and the ethical implications of implementing the solution.
Elements of Preventable Medical Errors
When patients visit healthcare facilities, they expect to get better. However, preventable medical errors increase the chances of a patient getting worse while in a healthcare setting. Preventable medical errors are defined as unexpected outcomes resulting from negligent or insufficient practices by medical personnel (Kahriman & Ozturk, 2016). They can be in the form of Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs), medication errors, surgical errors, patient falls, and diagnostic errors, among others. Preventable medical errors are attributable to errors of commission, errors of omission, and miscommunication (Clapper & Ching, 2020).
Errors of commission occur when a healthcare professional takes the wrong action when handling a patient. In a systematic review, Clapper and Ching (2020) revealed that errors of commission were the leading cause of medical errors. Examples of errors of commission include administering medication to a patient with a known allergic reaction to the medication or performing surgery on the wrong body part or wrong patient.
Errors of omission occur when necessary action is not taken or is delayed during patient care. Errors of omission were the second leading causes of medical errors (Clapper & Ching, 2020). Examples of errors of omission include patient falls resulting from failure to implement a safety procedure within the healthcare setting, such as identifying patients who are at risk of falling. Delaying to contact a patient about their abnormal laboratory results is also an omission error that contributes to medical errors.
Communication errors or miscommunication occur when there is inadequate communication within a healthcare setting. Miscommunication causes medical errors because when there is a breakdown in communication or poor communication, patient information can be lost or misinterpreted. For example, poor documentation of patient history is a communication error that contributes to medical errors. Clapper and Ching (2020) reveal that sometimes, communication errors can be the cause of errors of commission or omission.
Analysis
Addressing preventable medical errors is of great importance to me in both my personal and professional career. I have seen medical errors threaten the life of loved ones in the past. I would not want other families to experience the same. As a professional, I have a responsibility to promote patient safety and part of this responsibility involves reducing medical errors during my practice. Understanding this issue is, therefore, critical to my success as a healthcare professional.
Context of Preventable Medical Errors
Patient safety has always been a priority in healthcare, hence the need to address preventable medical errors. Often, at the organizational level, healthcare professionals have to deal with institutional factors that increase their risks of making medical errors. Kahriman and Ozturk (2016) indicate that poor staffing of medical personnel as well as inadequate automation of healthcare services are some of the institutional factors that healthcare professionals have to deal with. Chances of a medical error occurring are higher when an organization has not addressed such issues. Also, healthcare professionals have to deal with factors at the individual level that leave them vulnerable to making medical errors. These include fatigue due to high workloads and work-related stress. When other factors take precedence, such as attending a high number of patients within limited time duration, healthcare professionals are more likely to make errors of omission, commission, or communication, thereby endangering patient safety.
Affected Populations
Preventable medical errors affect the general population who seek medical care from healthcare facilities. This includes patients in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Emergency Department (ED), nursing homes, and psychiatric wards among other healthcare settings. As revealed by Makary and Daniel (2016) preventable medical errors contribute to about 400,000 deaths annually in the US. Thus, the general population, whether involving patients facing impending death or those with a long life expectancy, are at a high risk of dying as a result of medical error rather than the disease they are suffering from. Even when the patients survive, the psychological effects can be enormous on both the patients and their families.
Patients are the primary population affected by medical errors. The secondary population includes healthcare providers. When a healthcare provider realizes they have made a medical error, the health, ethical and legal repercussions can be great. In terms of health, healthcare providers suffer emotionally and psychologically. They are often blamed for the errors, albeit being unintentional (Robertson & Long, 2018). Also, they receive malpractice litigations and may end up losing their medical licenses.
Potential Solutions
As the name suggests, preventable medical errors can be avoided when the right measures are put in place. Healt...
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