Solutions For Medical Errors Essay

Introduction

Budgeting strategies are schemes that are implemented in the budget-making process in order to create a feasible budget in accordance with the organization’s mission and vision. There are many benefits to applying effective budget strategies including; increasing operational efficiency; complementing managerial decisions; planning the organization’s financial future, and monitoring the financial health of the organizations. Budget strategies are applied in institutions of nursing to assess medical errors, analyze and in turn provide solutions for minimizing the mistakes. Reducing the occurrence medical errors improves service provision in healthcare organizations. Strategies that were applied before include bedside documentation and continuing education. Though these strategies have not been completely effective, they have reduced incidents of medical errors in the nursing environment. The article examines solutions to the problem of errors in healthcare organizations.

Improving the Nursing Environment

The nursing environment is an important factor in the daily provision of services by nurses in the organization. A poor work environment increases the susceptibility of nurses to incidence of human error during execution of their duties. The working environment has a direct influence on all employees involved in providing medical care and most crucially the nurses. The organization’s management should provide the necessary strategies and policies to improve working conditions in the firm. The management should provide enough resources to nurses to carry out their duties effectively. Having the right equipment and resources ensures that nurses can provide medical care efficiently. The organization needs to improve safety practices in the nursing department. A safe workplace reduces chances of errors occurring during medical care because the nurses can concentrate on their job .
A healthy working environment gives nurses time to think critically during the decision-making process. A proper nursing environment enables nurses to practice their expertise and knowledge in their work. A safe workplace allows nurses to intercept medical errors before they occur. Nurses have enough time to check for errors and verify orders. In an environment where nurses consult and regularly communicate with each other, the occurrence of mistakes is reduced to a minimum. Other stakeholders in the medical sector, especially the administration and physicians, should be in constant liaison with nurses. Such an environment enables flow of information and knowledge among all departments of the organization thus reducing errors in the workplace. A good working also environment enhances productivity among the nurses and reduces maintenance costs in the organization .

Increased Nurse Staffing Levels

Increasing the number of nurses in hospitals has a direct relation to improved nursing services. Currently, healthcare organizations have inadequate numbers of nurses to handle daily operations. Due to the small numbers, nurses are expected to work overtime in order to meet organizational needs. Due to the high workload, nurses are susceptible to accidents and errors at work. The productivity of nurses reduces because they have to attend to many patients during work hours. Increasing the number of nurses reduces the workload of nurses and improves their concentration at work . Higher concentration on their duties enables nurses to check for errors in their work. Nurses can perform their core functions efficiently when they have enough time to carry them out. Increasing the number of nurses provides time for nurses to care for patients adequately and extensively.
Employment of more nurses provides time for physicians and nurses to attend to more patients daily. Improved patient services in turn increases the revenues to the organization. Increased nurse staffing improves working morale and job satisfaction among nurses and, therefore, improves their productivity and reduces human errors in the job. Adequate nurse-patient ratios enhance safe patient outcomes. Patients have higher satisfaction in instances where nurses have more time to attend to them. Physicians have more nurses to work with and implement medical decisions thus minimizing errors. The organization’s management need to support the recruitment of more nurses in the organization in order to improve the nurse-to-patient ratio .

Conclusion

Budgeting strategies are approaches that are implemented by an organization to improve productivity, monitoring finances, and management decision-making. Budget strategies are applied in medical institutions to evaluate errors and in turn provide solutions for reducing the errors. Improving the working environment has a positive impact on all stakeholders involved in healthcare. In safe conditions, nurses can intercept medical errors more frequently. The management should implement plans to enhance the work environment. Increasing nurse staffing improves the workload on nurses and as a result increasing productivity and reducing errors. Implementing these strategies will not only reduce errors but also lowers costs and increase overall operational efficiency in the organization.

References

Bouchard, S. (2011, March 30). Higher Nurse Staffing levels Benefits Patients. Retrieved 2014, from HealthCare Finance: http://www.healthcarefinancenews.com
Holloway, I., & Wheeler, S. (2013). Qualitative Research in Nursing and Healthcare. John Wiley & Sons.
Wood, D. (2012). Better Nursing Environments Reduce Medication Errors. Nurse Zone.