HNN320: Critically Discuss Why Patient Participation is Important in Maintaining Quality - Safe Patient | Nursing Assessment Answers

August 07, 2017
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Question: Nursing Assignment

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Purpose of Assessment Task One

The purpose of this assessment task is to provide you with the opportunity to demonstrate your understanding of the nurse’s leadership role in relation to clinical risk management, and continuing professional development

Assignment question

To ensure safe and quality patient care a Registered Nurse must have a variety of leadership skills. Engaging patients effectively is one of those skills. Reflect upon and critically discuss why patient participation is important in maintaining quality and safe patient outcomes and discuss strategies that can assist Registered Nurses in improving patient participation in care.

 

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Solution:

Reflect upon and critically discuss why patient participation is important in maintaining quality and safe patient outcomes and discuss strategies that can assist Registered Nurses in improving patient participation in care

Introduction

One of the key components of the health care sector is patient participation, it is rising very rapidly. The main aim of patient participation is for advocacy for the importance of patient safety in the health care services. It includes making the patients a part of the intricate decision making process and having a say in the management of chronic ailments. The research paper will be reviewing the origination of the concept of patient participation, the evidence that supports its efficacy and the factors that help in its implementation by the registered nurses. Most of the times patients are hesitant to don the role of the new patient is because of lack of information pertaining to the medical field, lacking of confidence, issues of morbidity and the overall enthusiasm to be a part of such a health care process. As per the London Declaration that has been widely promoted by the World Health Organization for the issue of patient safety, states that it is high time that the patients play a pivotal role in improving their safety in health care the world over (Lopes, Carter & Street, 2015) . One of the finest examples of patient participation is the hand hygiene campaign that has been widely promoted so that people can become more aware about the infections that are caused due to lack of hygiene. Research plays an imperative in understanding the factors that lead to a successful participation of patients in the health care process and at the same time reducing the cases of medical errors. The ideology of patient participation has not gained that much importance even though there is abundant information available on it. There is no clear definition of what patient participation really is. It is a very vast area that includes providing patient to have the decision making authority, self medicating, monitoring themselves, patient education and taking an active part in their own physical care (Andersson & Olheden, 2012).

The main aim of this critical reflection is to understand the importance of including patients in the decision making process while they are undergoing treatment, so that it can enhance the outcomes and at the same time maintain the safety of the patients. Further in the paper, recommendations shall be made that can be utilized by the registered nurses to ensure complete patient participation in care.

Importance of patient participation:

Providing empowerment to the patients so that they take an active interest in participating in their own health care has been recognized as the key factors that help in improvement of the health care services that are provided to the patients. It is the patient themselves who can play an intrinsic role for reduction of their safety. By promoting patients to become engaged in the safety of the health care services that that are provided to them, this does not imply that all the responsibility of the safety of the health care that is being given them is on the shoulders of the patient alone (Kon, 2012). The patients can only act as a safety buffer in accordance to the health care services. Patients do not need to feel that in case they do not participate in their care they will be provided with health care that is substandard in nature. It is an equal process where the responsibility of providing safe care is in the hands of the professionals.

The beliefs that the patients have and their knowledge are important components for their participation. There are incidents where the patients view themselves as being very vulnerable to safety incidents they will want to play an active part in reducing this vulnerability that exists. As per research it has been found that 75% (Kon, 2012) of the health care services that are provided are considered to be moderately safe and are still at a risk of causing medical errors. It has also been stated that more than 49% of the people thought that medical errors could be prevented while 59% (van de Bovenkamp & Trappenburg, 2008) of the population in Australia felt that it was the patients who were most often to be held responsible for the errors that were caused in their care.

The degree of patient involvement in health care varies to the age, the sex and the education that the patient has received. It is seen that younger patients want to be involved in their care much more in comparison to older patients. Women tend to play and active role instead of men and those who have received high education choose to have a greater amount of engagement in their health care than those who are lesser educated than them (Joseph-Williams, Elwyn & Edwards, 2014).

The manner in which the health care professionals and nurses interact with their patients also creates an impact on the levels of participation of the patients. This can be improved by having professionals who tend to respond in a positive manner to the patients, understands their needs and requirements. The behavior of the patient also has a role to play as it is much simpler for the patient to keep a record of all their medical history rather than confronting nurses on matters that are related to the delivery of care (McDonald, Bryce & Graber, 2013). This type of behavior can be offensive to the nurses. If the patients are encouraged to participate in their care it will help them to become more aware of the situation that they are in and can certainly help in increasing their safety.

Strategies to improve patient outcomes for registered nurses

After analyzing the literature that is available there are some strategies that the registered nurses can make use so that they can enhance the patient participation in patient safety. The improvement of the participation of the patient is directly dependent on how the nurses perceive the patients to be and the nurse as the pivotal health care provider (Davis, Sevdalis, Pinto, Darzi & Vincent, 2011). The role of the patients should be defined in a very clear manner while consideration needs to be given for the limitations that the patients have in terms of:

  • Physical abilities
  • Knowledge pertaining to medical terminology
  • Belief and attitude

It is imperative that the nurses utilize the patient participation as a process that helps them to learn and enhance their knowledge. They need to provide the patients all the assistance that is needed to be an intrinsic part of this process. As a leader nurse it is essential that they do not make use of an authoritarian approach because this can prevent the patient from participating. The task that the patient is being given should be as per the knowledge of the routines of the nurse. The capability of the patient should be kept in mind so that compete execution and implementation of the task can be carried out (Kon, 2012). The health care setting can come up with programs where the patients are provided knowledge on how they can enhance their treatment outcomes by becoming a part of their health care process. Nurses could spend time counseling the patients on how they can become decision makers in their treatments and explain them the positive impacts that it creates on their own safety (Martin, Navne & Lipczak, 2013). In order to ensure that practical strategies are used for the enhancement of patient participation it is essential to know the following:

  • The patient’s knowledge, their beliefs and values should be assessed by the nurses.
  • All the interventions that can improve the willingness of the patient to take part in safety processes should be measured.
  • The patients should be provided with plenty of motivation and encouragement.
  • Help should be given so that they feel valued for their collaboration
  • The patient and the nurses should be educated on the importance of having patient’s complete participation.
  • The extent of the patient’s participation needs to be in sync with his or her health status and physical abilities (Rise et al., 2011).

Conclusion

The critical reflection suggests the fact that patient participation can certainly enhance the outcome of decision making process and at the same time improve the safety outcome of the patients. However there are various factors that have been mentioned that can have an impact on implementing it in a successful manner, so that its efficacy is maintained. Registered nurses need to make use of strategies so that they can ensure that maximum patient participation is achieved which will help in reducing the errors caused by medical negligence, increase the adherence of the patients to their treatment plans (Andersson & Olheden, 2012). The strategies that have been mentioned in the reflection take us to the entire process of the emancipation of the true potential of the patient where it is entirely up to them to find out their own goals, knowledge and their motivating factors. Registered nurses also need to strive so that they can guide their patients towards finding experiences that are more meaningful and helps them to enhance their knowledge (Brett et al., 2012).

 

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