The national patient safety goals focus on identifying and addressing problems in the healthcare and safety sector to enhance patient welfare. The 2019 report on the wellbeing of disabled people addressed several areas in a similar manner as its annually released predecessors. Among the objectives announced in 2019, the desire to “use medicine safely” emerged as the most relevant and appealing. The safe use of medicine is an important aspiration that captures the essence of the others because it involves the healthcare practitioners, patients, and the community (Sittig et al., 2020). Compared to other aims, such as preventing infections and identifying patients correctly, the safe use of medicine is the best option that captures the essence of healthcare and safety.
The quest to achieve the national obligation of improving the state of invalids creates opportunities for healthcare personnel to develop the most efficient ways of enhancing the welfare of patients. Similarly, healthcare practitioners face challenges when pursuing the countrywide medical mandate. In particular, the endeavor to achieve the nationwide healthcare objectives of cautious medication usage, preventing infection, and keeping accurate records of physically challenged people are associated with both merits and demerits (Wong et al., 2020). Juxtaposing the advantages and drawbacks involved in realizing careful medication and effective marking of patients illustrates how these aspirations promote the state of public health.
First, the endeavor to take drugs as prescribed is a goal that inspires nurses and doctors to uphold accountability in their decisions and actions. Before executing a procedure, healthcare personnel label all medicines including those in basins, cups, and syringes. Similarly, nurses and doctors handle drugs carefully by ensuring that they record and pass accurate information about the prescribed medicine. The appropriate use of medicines also means that healthcare practitioners prescribe only necessary drugs that patients take when they go back home. Conversely, the challenge of achieving the responsible usage of medicine is evident when tracking the drugs taken outside the confines of hospitals (Sittig et al., 2020). Indeed, people may jeopardize their health when they skip or take an overdose of a prescribed medicine while at home.
Second, the desire to maintain an accurate record of patients enhances accountability among healthcare personnel. Keeping records of invalids using their correct names, dates of birth, dates of admission to hospitals, and admission numbers, helps to ensure that they receive the correct treatments and medicines. Healthcare practitioners show professionalism and responsibility by using the valid data to ensure that the hospitalized get the correct blood during blood transfusions (Wong et al., 2020).
Conversely, the accurate documentation of hospital visitors may prove challenging when healthcare practitioners handle a large number of people displaying similar health problems in an emergency setting. The outbreak of the COVID-19 into a pandemic illustrates the challenge that healthcare personnel face when striving to meet healthcare objectives.
The quest to realize the nationwide healthcare aspiration of 2019 is associated with numerous advantages and disadvantages. The careful subscription and consumption of drugs is the most important objective that sums up all the other aspirations of public healthcare. Medical personnel encounter various threats and opportunities when striving to ensure the appropriate usage of drugs and accurate documentation of hospital invalids.
Increased accountability is the benefit that stands out as healthcare personnel endeavor to achieve the above mentioned goals. Conversely, nurses and doctors face threats in the quest to track the way patients discharged from hospitals use prescribed drugs and in identifying patients showing similar problems during an outbreak of a contagion. Overall, healthcare personnel experience the benefits and drawbacks of pursuing nationwide public health objectives.
References
Sittig, D. F., Wright, A., Coiera, E., Magrabi, F., Ratwani, R., Bates, D. W., & Singh, H. (2020). Current challenges in health information technology–related patient safety. Health Informatics Journal, 26(1), 181-189. Web.
Wong, B. M., Baum, K. D., Headrick, L. A., Holmboe, E. S., Moss, F., Ogrinc, G., Shojania, K. G., Vaux, E., Warm, E. J., & Frank, J. R. (2020). Building the bridge to quality: An urgent call to integrate quality improvement and patient safety education with clinical care. Academic Medicine, 95(1), 59-68. Web.