National Safety And Quality Health Service Standards †Free Samples

Question: Discuss about the National Safety And Quality Health Service Standards. Answer: The National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards were developed by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health care in order to provide protection for the public and improve the quality of the health care services. There are 10 health standards (Lyle-Edrosolo, Waxman, 2016). including prevention and control of healthcare associated infections, medication safety which will be discussed in this paper. The patient, Mrs. Julia Brown is a 61-year-old woman who had a lap cholecystectomy. She requires administration of medication, monitoring of her wound, assessment of vital signs and general evaluation. This paper will focus on how 2 of the quality standards would be applied in a home environment compared to a hospital environment for Mrs. Julia. Therefore, the paper focuses on standard 3, preventing and controlling healthcare associated infections and on standard 4, medication safety and their relevance to the case study. Preventing and controlling healthcare associated infections is the third standard. The aim of this standard is to ensure patients do not get any healthcare related infections and also managing infections effectively in case they occur(Bain, Bucknall, Weir-Phyland, Metcalf, Ingram, Nie, 2013). In both the hospital and home setting, the nurse will have to sanitize their hands first before coming into direct contact with Mrs. Julia or indirectly through touching any equipment or items that will be used by her. In both environments, the surrounding areas should be clean and the medical devices being used should be sterilized before they are used on the patient. In a hospital setting, the proximity to other patients and sharing of some of the hospital facilities among patients has to be managed. However, in a home setting, the family members who come into contact with Mrs. Julia should sanitize their hands first before seeing her and they should not be having any medical condition that c an spread to the patient. Standard four is medication safety, which ensures that there are reduced medication incidents and improved safety in medicine use (Bain, Bucknall, Weir-Phyland, Metcalf, Ingran Nie, 2013). The standard also ensures safe prescription, dispensation, and administration of appropriate medicines to informed patients, this is critical in ensuring patient safety. In this case, both the home setting and the hospital setting, medication has to be safely administered and the effects of the medications monitored (Lyle-Edrosolo Waxman, 2016). The medication history of the patients is also made available during the time of clinical care or home care (Twigg, Duffield, Evans, 2013). In a home setting, the nurse will require to have the complete list of the patients medicine and ensure that its all available at Mrs., Julias home. The nurse will have to talk to the family about the patients medication, the storage, prescription and possible risks that may occur. Compared to a hospital, the nurse w ill have to ensure the medication is stored safely in the patients house and also consider the conditions required for storage(Bain, Bucknall, Weir-Phyland, Metcalf, Ingran Nie, 2013). In a home environment, the nurse will be able to monitor closely Mrs. Julia for any side effects that may occur because of the medication, this is important to ensure complete clinical recovery of the patient. On the other hand, in the hospital setting, the nurse usually looks after several patients at once and they may miss an effect the prescribed medication has on the patient (Excellence, 2013). In a home environment, the nurse can involve other family members in monitoring the patients response to medication and ensuring adherence to the prescription, which may not be the case in the hospital environment (Twigg, Duffield Evans, 2013). In conclusion, the paper has focused on two quality standards of health that can be applied in the home environment in comparison to those quality standards applicable in the hospital environment for Mrs. Julia. The quality standards are based on the controlling and prevention of infections in order to ensure safety in medication, these health standards are very useful in ensuring the safety of the patient. It also guides the clinical workforce on how to safely carry out their duties while taking care of the patients. Preventing and controlling healthcare associated infections and medication safety are standards that can be applied when handling a patient in a hospital and home setting. Even though their implementation might be different in the two environments, they still aim at ensuring the patient's safety and proper health care services. References Bain, C.A., Bucknall, T., Weir-Phyland, J., Metcalf, S., Ingram, P., Nie, L. (2013). Meeting National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards- The role of the Point-of-care (POC) Audit application. International Journal of e-Education, e-Business, e-Management and e-Learning, 3(6), 507 Excellence, B.P. (2013). The Joint Commission announces 2014 national patient safety goal. Joint commission perspectives. Lyle-Edrosolo, G., Waxman, K. T. (2016). Aligning healthcare Safety and Quality competencies: Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN), The Joint Commission and American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) Magnet Standards Crosswalk. Nurse Leader, 14(1), 70-75. Twigg, D. E., Duffield, C., Evans, G. (2013). The critical role of nurses in the successful implementation of the National Safety and Quality Health Services Standards. Australian Health Review, 37(4), 541-546