Adverse Events in Healthcare Essay Example

Adverse Events in Healthcare Essay Example Adverse Events in Healthcare Paper Adverse Events in Healthcare Paper Health care is an important aspect for every body and how it is managed has to be for the betterment of the society. Health care management thus means how the health facilities which include the hospitals, doctors nursing staff and the patients are handled pertaining health aspect. Patient safety is very important in the medical field. Adverse events can result in harmful effect on a patient. This is an area of concern in many nations that improving safety and quality in health care has become a priority in many hospitals. In the medicine field, when surgery or chemotherapy is done it can always result in adverse event on the patient. Discussion No one desires to cause it. It is usually quite harmful. An adverse event can be caused incorrect dosage of drugs. There are also times when the dosage is unsuitable. All these can be termed as a medical error. Sometimes it can be termed as a side effect. This is especially when the effect is judged as a therapeutic or secondary. When it results from treatment, it can be termed as iatrogenic. They may occur when treatment is discontinued. Sometimes it occurs when the treatment is increasing or when it is starting. (Gawande, and Thomas, 1999) Adverse event’s risk can be increased by using drugs that are contradicting. Sometimes doctors can have a negative prognosis of a disease because the patient has complications resulting from adverse event. This means that the patient will not react positively to the drugs given. A patient that is affected by adverse event has symptoms like weight gain or loss. One of the harmful effects is whereby the mortality of the patient is affected. There can be fluctuations in the patients enzymes. When the physiological, macroscopic and microscopic levels of pathogens are checked in a patient with adverse effect it will always show drastic changes. Some patients become totally functionless. Â  All these changes may be irreversible or reversible. Such a patients susceptibility to foods, chemicals or procedures may be decreased or increased. It is usually not the initial patients condition but it is something that results from medical intervention. Adverse events on a patient are usually unintentional. When it results from healthcare management it is referred to as an injury that is iatrogenic. It is good to note that these adverse effects are preventable especially if they result from management error. This issue has raised a concern on the patients safety in many countries. (Brennan and Laird 1991) These events are common to women who are delivering through caesarean. They occur while the patients are in the theatre. In this case we find that there are various causes to adverse event occurring in theatres during operations. It has been noted that the doctors dealing with this section are usually tired because of increase in the number of complications during delivery. Some of them just work 24 hours increasing adverse event occurrence. Some of the surgeons are found to be quite inexperienced in the work which influences too. The doctors can have work and also family related stress which affects their performance. There is so much technological advancement and at times they simply don’t have knowledge in the equipment being used. (Aiken, Silber, 2003) We also find that these events also occur in the patient care process by a nurse administering an under dose or an over dose of drugs on the patient. Research shows that some health professional may have so many patients to deal with till they affect his or her efficiency. There needs to be improvement in the patient care delivery. Patients always need attention in hospital to ensure there well being. Routine checks on the patients have to be done in good time. The people carrying out the patient care need to record how the patient is faring on There are incidences when the medial practitioner or professional is employed not on merit but due to other factors. This will always lead to an increase in the occurrence of adverse events in hospitals. There are simple things in hospitals like the filling system that can affect occurrence of adverse events. In hospitals sometimes the management fails to make important decisions very fast. Such delays affect the degree of adverse events occurring in hospitals. The management in hospitals need to be organized and do first things first. This will help in improving the quality and safety in the health care delivery by the professionals Recommendations and conclusion Adverse events in the health care sector may not be eliminated but they can be minimized. One of the ways is to carry out management development. This is where the doctors learn as they continue with their duties. It can be done formally and informally. Both ways are important and can lead to minimizing adverse events. There should be seminars and workshops where the health professionals are taught. This helps the professionals to acquire and up date their skills in relation to technological advancement. Surveillance in the organizations should be encouraged since this can help minimize adverse events occurring. The managers in hospitals that are simply lax in doing their work have to be done away with. The health professionals have to be assessed frequently. Those that are underperforming should be spotted and the necessary measures taken. This can help to prevent further harm on the patients by these professionals. (Bates, 2001) Managers in hospitals should ensure that the professional are enough considering the number of patients they speculate to have. They then have to carry out planning on who has to be on duty at what time. Reference: Aiken, L. Silber, J. (2003) Educational levels of hospital nurses and surgical patient Mortality; Jama; 290; 1615-1620 Brennan, T. and Laird N. (1991) Incidence of adverse events negligence in hospitalized Patients; North England Journal of Medicine; 321: 340-6 Bates, D. (2001) Reducing the frequency of Errors in Medicine Using Information Technology; Jamia; 8; 289-305 Gawande, A. and Thomas J. (1999) The incidence and nature of surgical adverse events in Colorado and Utah in 1992; Surgery; 116; 56-6