Providing safety for patients in nursing homes is a primary factor in healthcare delivery, especially for frail older adults. Lately, there has been a noticeable shift towards developing a whole-life approach to patient safety in the healthcare environment, focusing on the interrelation of different factors within the health system. This paper considers the concept of patient safety in long-term care settings based on the findings of an integrated review completed by Min et al. (2021). This paper outlines the role of patient safety by applying an ecological model, which identifies the systemic factors that impact resident success. Through planning personal, facility, and policy factors, this essay will focus on recognizing the possibilities and challenges of injury prevention in long-term care centers.
The issue of patient safety in nursing homes is complex, spanning from individual factors to facility factors and the impact of policy. As Min et al. (2021) demonstrated, residents’ health status and cognitive capabilities are also personal factors that give rise to differences in their safety outcomes. It can also be seen that, for example, dementia residents are challenged with fall risks or medication errors due to their memory’s compromise. In addition, the paper highlights that facility factors, which include staffing levels and the condition of buildings, are essential determinants of patient safety. Understaffing or inadequate training, as Min et al. (2023) found out, can reduce the quality of care and increase the rate of adverse events. All considered, among the main regulating factors are the legislative frameworks and the reimbursement methods, and they create an environment of patient safety in various nursing homes. Tighter regulation and the backing up of quality improvement by stimulus packages will undoubtedly help to bring change to residents’ lives.
The reviewing study by Min et al. (2023) also shows the interconnected nature of these issues and their influence on patients’ safety. It is mentioned in the article that personal, facility, and policy factors mutually amplify, thus defining the whole safety status in nursing homes. Understanding and addressing these factors are essential for promoting a safety culture and enhancing residents’ well-being. As Min et al. (2023) outlined, the comprehensive assessment and management of personal, facility, and policy factors helps establish targeted intervention systems to reduce risks and improve patient safety results in nursing care settings.
Staff shortages have led to many critical situations in my professional career related to patient safety in nursing homes. The integrated review Min et al. (2023) carried out indicates an alarming point: the importance and centrality of facility factors and staffing levels, among others, in protecting patients against harm. For example, insufficient staff can impair professional care and increase the odds of adverse events. While on a clinical rotation, I realized that short staffing caused needed delays and increased the burden for the caregivers. These issues serve as an example that works on a spectrum from considering the provision of care to comprehending the risks to patient safety. Resolving staffing deficits by having coverage for care in case of staff absence is critical to monitoring the health statuses of residents and maintaining standards for quality of care.
Additionally, my perspective on patient safety in nursing homes reflects the importance of preventive measures to stop health mishaps and create a culture of safe care. For instance, using standard protocols for medication use or avoiding falls is one of the strategies that should be adopted in this setting. By providing staff with clear standards and tools, healthcare institutions can equip them with the necessary tools to render safer care and decrease the chances of committing medical errors (Flaubert et al., 2021). Accordingly, continuing the education and training of the staff is another way to improve skills and raise the technicians’ confidence in complying with the established regulations and, thus, in providing core services to the residents of nursing homes.
Moreover, the interdisciplinary collaboration of the experts is critical for nursing homes that have to deal with multifaceted patient safety problems. Including pharmacists, physical therapists, and social workers in care planning may improve residents’ quality of life and indicate health hazards (Karam et al., 2021). Utilizing all the diverse healthcare knowledge by working in groups, we can achieve multifaceted solutions for the safety of older adults in nursing homes and their successful outpatient treatment. It serves as the core principle that accepts teamwork and communication as the primary steps towards fostering a safety culture and serves as the backbone of nursing home quality services.
To sum up, nursing home safety is a multi-dimensional issue that stems from endogenous and facility factors as well as external policy factors. From the ecosystem point of view, we set forth the balance of these components and their impact on residents. Staffing numbers affect personal attributes like health status and brain function, and the facilities’ engineering ultimately affects. Notably, policymaking and other regulatory measures are the key factors that trigger healthcare reform activities to enhance quality in all aspects. Through this comprehensive approach, the issue of older adults’ well-being in nursing homes could be better handled, and consequently, more safety could be brought in. The problem should be approached from a preventive perspective, with better interdisciplinary collaborations and continual satisfaction and safety issue monitoring.
References
Flaubert, J. L., Menestrel, S. L., Williams, D. R., & Wakefield, M. K. (2021). The Role of Nurses in Improving Health Care Access and Quality. In www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. National Academies Press (US). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK573910/
Karam, M., Chouinard, M.-C., Poitras, M.-E., Couturier, Y., Vedel, I., Grgurevic, N., & Hudon, C. (2021). Nursing care coordination for patients with complex needs in primary healthcare: A scoping review. International Journal of Integrated Care, 21(1), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.5334/ijic.5518
Min, D., Park, S., Kim, S., & Hye Ok Park. (2023). Patient Safety in Nursing Homes From an Ecological Perspective: An Integrated Review. Journal of Patient Safety. https://doi.org/10.1097/pts.0000000000001189
write