Introduction
Patient safety is one of the primary concerns of the healthcare system. Moreover, it is a significant global public healthcare issue. According to the World Health Organization (2017), one in 300 patients has a chance to be harmed in the process of care. At the same time, only one in a million travelers is at risk of some harm in an aircraft (World Health Organization, 2017). WHO states that one in ten patients is somehow harmed during hospital care in developed countries, which is a worrying statistic.
Healthcare-associated infections make one of the spread factors threatening patient safety, with about 10% of patients developing them (World Health Organization, 2017). Patient safety depends on diverse factors that can be influenced to improve patient outcomes. For example, there is a supposition that models of nursing care organizations can have an impact on patient safety outcomes. Thus, the current paper focuses on the problem of patient safety in hospitals. One of the core points under discussion includes associations between patient safety outcomes and nursing care organizational models.
Impact of Nursing Care Organization Model on Patient Safety
The organization of the nursing staff is among the factors that influence the way the care is provided. The choice of nursing care organizational model determines the further process of care within every healthcare facility. Dubois et al. (2013), in their cross-sectional correlation study, investigate the impacts these models have on patient safety outcomes in hospitals. The study was conducted in 22 medical units of 11 Canadian hospitals.
It included an evaluation of four nursing care organizational models, two of which were functional, and two were professional. The measurements included such negative events as “medication administration errors, falls, pneumonia, urinary tract infection, unjustified restraints, and pressure ulcers” (Dubois et al., 2013, p. 110). The data collection process included the incidence of one or more of these factors in every of the research participants.
Out of 2699 patients, 412 (15.3%) experienced 568 diverse health-related problems during the experiment (Dubois et al., 2013). After the experiment, it was concluded that patients receiving care in the units with functional care models are at higher risk of experiencing one or more of the mentioned negative events than those in the units with professional care models (Dubois et al., 2013). It can be explained by the fact that in professional models, more attention is paid to the work environment and innovation, thus providing nurses with more support in their practice, which results in improved patient outcomes due to better professional performance of nurses.
I believe that proper managerial decisions that are present in professional models of nursing care organization are decisive for patient outcomes. Thus, these models usually involve better-educated staff and provide more support for professional growth. These efforts lead to a higher quality of care and, as a result, improve patient safety outcomes.
Conclusion
Generally speaking, patient safety is a global concern at present. It is investigated worldwide, and the research results are commonly implemented into practice. Thus, the research proves that healthcare facilities should be careful in choosing nursing care models. Its findings show that proper staffing policies and thoughtful management of nursing staff positively influences patient safety outcomes. Further research can be necessary to check this theory in other settings and include it as a recommendation for healthcare facilities on a national or global level.
References
Dubois, C., D’amour, D., Tchouaket, E., Clarke, S., Rivard, M., & Blais, R. (2013). Associations of patient safety outcomes with models of nursing care organization at unit level in hospitals. International Journal for Quality in Health Care, 25(2), 110-117. Web.
World Health Organization. (2017). 10 facts on patient safety. Web.