NURS3347 SPECIALIZED TOPICS IN NURSING

Module 2 Quiz   

Lectures and Media Progress Monitor

Question 1 Adam, the supervisor, wanted all staff to speak up about potential safety problems in the unit. Which of the following is the LEAST helpful to build psychological safety in his unit?

  Adam should use incidents like this one as learning opportunities, as such errors could happen to other nurses and future errors may not be caught as quickly.

  Adam should describe some of his own errors in the past, to recognize human fallibility.

  Adam should tell everyone that it is not acceptable to make errors.

  Adam should demonstrate his curiosity in finding out how devices such as infusion pumps may be inadvertently programmed incorrectly.

 Question 2 Janet decided to tell Adam about the incident. Adam asked a clinical engineering technician and a pharmacist to come to the unit, and asked Janet to walk through the steps. Adam learned that the alert for the medication (dexmedetomidine) would pop up on the infusion pump, even if the rate was programmed correctly at 1.1 mcg/kg/hr.

How would you tell Adam based on what you learned in this module?

  Nurses are set up to be conditioned to ignore the alerts, and such errors should be expected as nurses sometimes do not read alert messages before responding.

  Observing a walkthrough is a waste of time.

  Some nurses are more careful than others. That is why they call it “human factors.”

  Adam should invite a nursing educator to teach Janet how to read alert messages.

 Question 3 Please help Adam to think about medication safety with the concept of work systems. Of which component is infusion pumps an example in a nurse’s work system to administer medications?

  Organization

  Environment

  Technology and tools

  Tasks

 Question 4 Adam has been concerned with staff fatigue, and was reminded of the issue by the pump incident in which Janet made the error towards the end of her 12-hr shift.

Based on the ideas from this module, what would you recommend Adam to do first to reduce potential impact on patient safety from staff fatigue?

  Reviewing recent staffing levels and talking with staff about issues with work environment

  Building up a can-do attitude among staff to overcome fatigue

  Comparing nursing turnover rates in his unit with other hospital units

  Assessing the literature to see if younger generations are less committed to their professions

 Question 5 Adam was deciding whether to keep Dr. Ahmed (the physician who ordered the infusion medication) informed of the incident. Adam has heard of reports of difficulties in communicating with Dr. Ahmed  The incident reminded Adam about the unit’s need to improve communication with the physicians.

What ideas from this module would you recommend to Adam?

  Training nurses to talk faster, so that they can show respect of physician’s time

  Following physicians’ recommendations on whether to improve teamwork

  Talking with physicians to understand their perspectives on timing and format of communications over the phone and during rounds

  Limiting phone calls to physicians unless in life threatening emergencies