Case Study Analysis Assignment 2022

Running head: CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author’s name

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CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
Introduction
Medical errors in clinical settings are inevitable when it comes to lack of proper
knowledge and failing to practice within the nursing standards. Newspaper articles, television
and other sources of news on catastrophic incidents occurring at the hands of medical
professionals shows the prevalence of medical error and recognizes the need to develop
strategies to prevent the occurrence of these errors (Weingart, Wilson, Gibberd & Harrison,
2000). Medical professionals, especially nurses tend to make mistakes due to lack of knowledge
or sometimes, negligence. While practicing in clinical settings, the nurses must apply evidence
based practice while delivering care to the patients (Shafiei et al., 2014). Nurses are often found
to make medical errors that not only impacts patient’s health, but also, can lead to death of the
patient. Studies have revealed the occurrence of medical errors resulted in around 18,000 deaths
in Australia and more than 50,000 patients became disabled every year as per the year 2000
(Weingart, Wilson, Gibberd & Harrison, 2000). The nurses must include in their care strategies
Evidence based Practice in order to get an improved health outcome as well as an overall good
response of the treatment. The essay, therefore, focuses on a case study showing the impacts of
medical error that can have on patient’s health irrespective of their current health status and the
strategies that can be implemented to avoid such kind of errors in order to get an improved health
outcome of the patients by highlighting the importance of critical thinking and Evidence Based
Practice in nursing to promote health outcome of the patients (Safetyandquality.gov.au, 2019).

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CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
Discussion
The case study depicts a scenario where a nurse was found in the custody for attempting
medical error or negligence that took a 97 year old patient’s life. Although, the court heard that
the victim was already at the verge of death, partly because of her age and also her medical
condition. However, the prosecutors are found to have complained about the nurse violating law
for care leading to patient’s death. According to the Standard 6 of NMBA Registered Nurse
Standards for Practice, the nurses must work within their scope of practice
(Nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au, 2019). The nurse should always consult the doctor or nurse
supervisors before changing any medications and taking major steps. The nurse should always
appropriately delegate the aspects of practice to the enrolled nurses within their scope of
practice. The nurses must ensure that the delegate practice is proper and safe
(Safetyandquality.gov.au, 2019).
The nurse, in the case study, however, failed to follow the guidelines for practicing safe
delivery of care and violated the nursing standards that lead to the above condition. According to
Standard 1 of the NMBA nursing standards, the nurse must think critically think and evaluate the
situation based on which decision must be taken (Nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au, 2019). The
nurse, failed to think critically through critical reflection and lacked the knowledge about the
medications given and also failed to adhere to the guidelines proposed by the nursing standards
of NMBA (Williams, 2001). The nurse was not even guilty of her doings that indicates her
being careless and not bothering about the patient’ death. The nurses must apply Evidence Based
Practice to care by collecting and comparing the recent data obtained and make clinical judgment
based on the experience and Knowledge they have about the same (Seidi, Alhani & Salsali,