Never Events and Hospital Acquired Infections
Hospital is the place to go when someone is sick and requires medical attention. It is shocking to know that one can contract diseases while in the hospital facility which were not present during admission. And that ‘Never Events’ which are preventable incidents such as wrong site surgery do occur in the hospital setting. How do we prevent hospital acquired conditions and never events from occurring in the hospital? It will be interesting to figure out the answers to these questions as hospital acquired conditions and Never Events are the major concerns of the health care system.
Never-Events and Hospital Acquired Conditions A Never Event has been defined by the National Quality Forum …show more content…
Some states have enacted legislation requiring reporting of incidents on the NQF list. For example, in 2003, the Minnesota legislature, with strong support from the state hospital association, was the first to pass a statute requiring mandatory reporting of “never events”. The law requires hospitals to investigate each event, report its underlying cause, and take corrective action to prevent similar events (CMS, 2006). Furthermore, the rate of occurrence can also be reduced and predetermined through accurate treatment and proper documentation of underlying pre-existing conditions. The use of surgical checklists, clear language and understanding the policies and publications of difference between the NQF “never events” and CMS “non-reimbursable serious hospital acquired-conditions” to avoid claims of negligence (Lembitz & Clarke, 2009).
Nursing Strategies to Reduce Occurrences Nurses and other health care providers should be aware of safety measures that would help to reduce the occurrences of HACs and Never Events when taking care of patients. Health workers should be able to detect the means for transmitting such diseases and be able to track risky conditions from the onset. For instance, in order to prevent a fall, the nurse should be able to notice immediately the patient is beginning to move in a high risk manner. Prevention is better than cure. The nurse should instantly detect when the patient is beginning to get out of bed or chair (Dalcon, 2010). It is