Overview Of The 2015 Hospital National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG) 1

It is change of shift and nurses are handling off report. Both nurses wheeled their computer on wheels into the patients’ room and the ongoing nurse begins to give her report. The oncoming nurse was able to ask questions as report was going on and the patient was able to participate in the report. But wait a minute the incoming nurse said “the patient seems short of breath”. The patient has his oxygen on and the nasal cannula was in place; but when the patient was assessed by the nurse and the reason for his short of breath, the nurses discovered that the tubing has somehow been disconnected from the oxygen source. Of course the oxygen was reconnected and the patient did fine. As a student nurse watching this happen, different thoughts was

According to Ofori-Atta (2015), The Joint Commission has put forth a set of patient safety goals to improve quality of care. The 2015 Hospital National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG) 2 is to “improve the effectiveness of communication among caregivers.” NPSG 13 is intended to “encourage patients ' active involvement in their own care as a patient safety strategy.” The rationale states that “communication with the patient and family about all aspects of care, treatment, and services is an important characteristic of a culture of safety (Ofori-Atta, Binienda, Chalupka, 2015). Bedside Shift Report meets these standards. Consequently, health care organizations must include these mandates as outlined by The Joint Commission in protocols or procedures developed or bedside reporting (Ferguson & Howell,

The AHRQ checklist stipulates that nurses should introduce the patient family. Invite the patient and family to be part of the bedside report. Nurses are to open patient medical record or access the electronic work station in the patient’s room and carry out the report process with the patient and family using the SBAR while using words that the patient and family can understand. S= Situation. What is going on with the patient? What are the current vital signs? B= Background. What is the pertinent patient history? A= Assessment. What is the patient’s problem now? R= Recommendation. What does the patient need? Nurses should perform a focused assessment of the patient and safety assessment of the room, review tasks that need to be done for example: labs, medications given, forms that need to be completed. Identify the patient and family concerns and answer the question that they might have. Ask the patient and family what their goal is for the next twelve hours. These guidelines have shown great improvement in patients’ safety and quality of care since adapted on the medical surgical unit on 5 west as stated by the nurse