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Enhancing Quality and Safety Improvement

Nurses play a vital role in enhancing patient quality and safety as they primarily deliver care treatments through medication administration and monitoring (Alomari et al., 2020). In Arnold Palmer Hospital, patient safety issues of patient identification errors are growing tremendously, impacting several patients regarding medication and treatment errors. Therefore, this assessment will delve into improving patient safety issues of identification errors and incorporate evidence-based solutions to promote patient safety and care coordination.

Factors leading to Specific Patient-Safety Risks

Patient safety is essential to consider while delivering healthcare services in healthcare organizations. One of the significant patient safety risks is associated with errors in patient identification as they can pose grave risks to patients, such as the provision of wrong treatment leading to health deterioration (Bell et al., 2020). Various factors contribute to the onset of patient identification errors, such as manual data entry errors, lack of standardized patient identification protocols, and incomplete or outdated Electronic Health Records (EHRs). The manual data entry of patient information can lead to misinterpretation due to illegible handwriting or typographical mistakes. These mistakes can lead to patient identification errors (Bell et al., 2020). 

 Inconsistent identification protocols across multiple healthcare facilities can contribute to dilemmas and mistakes. Hence, a lack of standardized procedures increases the likelihood of misidentification. Furthermore, incomplete or outdated information in EHRs can result in misidentification. This can occur when patient records are not regularly updated with accurate demographic details. Physicians are also prone to entering wrong-patient order entries, as one study relates that these errors happen for almost 600,000 patients with wrong order entries in the U.S. (Salmasian et al., 2020).

Evidence-Based Practice Solutions for Patient Identification Errors to Enhance Patient Safety and Diminish Costs

It is paramount to address patient identification errors as they can lead to poor patient safety and incidence of medication and treatment errors. For this purpose, applying evidence-based practices to avoid patient identification errors is mandatory. One of these evidence-based practice solutions is implementing barcode systems within the organization. The use of barcoding systems for patient identification has proved to reduce medication errors and enhance the rates of patient identification. One study finds that using barcode medication administration technology increased patient identification rates from 74% to 100% and reduced medication errors (Barakat & Franklin, 2020). Another strategy is integrating biometric technologies such as fingerprint or palm vein recognition to promote accurate patient identification.

Another novel biometric technique researchers utilize is iris recognition systems for correct and accurate patient identification. This solution involves acquiring patients’ iris images, storing the features as iris templates, and matching them with patients’ iris for identification (Anne et al., 2020). Lastly, it is emphasized that hospital organizations must develop standardized patient identification protocols to reduce identification errors and improve patient safety (Riplinger et al., 2020). These technologies and evidence-based strategies can potentially increase patient safety by reducing identification errors. Moreover, costs can be effectively reduced by preventing costs associated with adverse events and rework due to errors (Riplinger et al., 2020).

Role of Nurses in Improving Patient Safety and Reducing Costs 

Nurses have an enormous role in care coordination to facilitate patient safety and limit costs mainly related to risks leading to patient identification errors. They can ensure adherence to patient identification protocols during various healthcare interactions such as admissions, medication administration, and specimen collection.

For example, implementing the “two-patient identifier” rule, where nurses consistently use at least two unique identifiers for patients, such as names and birth dates, before administrating medications, helps reduce the risk of patient identification errors during medication administration (Simamora, 2020). Nurses can actively use technologies such as barcoding systems during their daily tasks to ensure accurate patient identification. For example, scanning a patient’s wristbands and medication barcodes before administering medications helps verify patient identity and medication match, whi