NUR331 Case Study: Enhancing Patient Safety & Quality Nursing Care

This case study examines the death of Mrs. Marcia Joy Loveday, focusing on healthcare issues that contributed to her unexpected passing. Mrs. Loveday, who had a known penicillin allergy, was administered penicillin intravenously at Bundaberg Base Hospital, leading to a fatal reaction. The analysis highlights failures in communication, adherence to national safety and quality health standards, and the role of registered nurses in ensuring patient safety. The study emphasizes the importance of thorough patient history checks, effective communication among healthcare staff, and the implementation of standard precautions to prevent medical errors. Recommendations are made for improving nursing practice and healthcare protocols to avoid similar incidents, stressing the critical role of nurses in patient care and medication safety. Desklib provides access to a wide array of solved assignments and study tools for students.

Case study

Table of Contents
INTRDOUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................1
Identify and analyse the healthcare issues which contributes to the unexpected patient death.. 1
The role of the RN in the provision of the safe management of the clinical case..................2
RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSION ..............................................................................2
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................4

INTRDOUCTION
Mrs. Marcia joy Loveday was 74 year old and was suffering from a serious allergy
related to penicillin. Mrs. Loveday was taking some medicines that are involved in the chest pain
and the abdomen pain as she was suffering from this from past few days. She also wore a
bracelet which was related to her serious allergy of penicillin so that everyone will know about
her allergy.
MAIN BODY
Identify and analyse the healthcare issues which contributes to the unexpected patient death.
The healthcare problems which are involved in Mrs. Loveday case is she was suffering
from some allergy with penicillin and was taking a treatment from the Bundaberg base hospital
from long time. The information about her allergy was also recorded in the hospital's document
as she had wore a Medic-alert bracelet which was a type of remainder that she has an allergy
with penicillin. She had faced some pain in her chest and abdomen and was immediately
admitted to the base hospital where she was taking her treatment to cure such allergy. The major
healthcare problem in her case is that the staff did not take care of her serious allergy while she
was admitted to the emergency department at Bundaberg base hospital. It is medical staff's duty
to check all the records about their patients while starting their treatment. She had also wore the
Medic-alert bracelet which was simply the indication of her allergy (Andrews, 2020).
In every healthcare, it is very important that the adequate amount of information flow
about patient's history before starting their treatment should there. It is because the health
professionals can not administer any medication or injection without the knowledge about
patient's history. Lacking this knowledge in particular healthcare will lead to some major illness
or even death also of patient's. According to Mrs. Loveday's case study, the medical staff did not
take care of this prior information as they administer penicillin intravenously as she is allergic to
penicillin. According to national safety and quality health standards, their basic purpose is to
protect the public from any harm and also enhance their quality of health and here the Bundaberg
base hospital has lack such facilities. As they did not take care of their patients well as patient's
are their responsibility and they should properly check the health problems from which Mrs.
Loveday suffering from. In context with Mrs. Loveday's case study, the importance of effective
communication is quite crucial in every intra or inter-healthcare departments as it helps to protect
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their patient's, save on cost, moreover patient's benefit from enhanced access to their medical
histories as it decreases the chances of occurrence of medical errors. And this effective
communication lacks in the base hospital where Mrs. Loveday had admitted. In addition to this,
the health care professionals must have checked the history of their patients prior the procedure
or so that they can provide suitable treatments in order to cure their patient's (Fenney, 2020).
The role of the RN in the provision of the safe management of the clinical case.
The role of registered nurse in particular healthcare sectors are very crucial as they are
totally responsible for accessing the patient's wellness related problems. The registered nurses are
on the frontline of the healthcare work force that are generally responsible for delivering the
quality of patient's care. The nurses gives a variety of patient's services which includes a primary
as well as preventative care and providing knowledge to patient's about the prevention of disease,
the equipments used in operating or the administration of medications. According to the national
safety and quality health services, their primary aim is to protect people from any harm and
further enhance their quality of care. As they draw the level of care which must be provided by
the healthcare sectors as well as the systems that are required to deliver such care. The standard
precautions aims to prevent the spread of contamination through the body fluid or blood. It is the
duty of nurse in a particular healthcare sector that they must implement the standard precautions
regularly as an important part of the patient's care (Inwood & et. al., 2021).
The standards in the medications safety involves the members of a healthcare
organizations elaborates, utilize as well as the observe the system so as to decrease the incidents
of medications. It also enhance the quality and the safety of medication use. It is their general
duty of all the nurses to check the medical history of the patient's before providing them another
level of treatment. The documentation of the patient's information is also considered under the
role of nurses for managing the safe management. It includes drug history of the patient's which
is recorded when commencing an occurrence of care. It also includes the best possible treatment
history as well as the information that are relating to allergies and the adverse drug reactions are
accessible to the practitioners.
RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSION
From Mrs. Loveday's case study, it is analysed that the duty of staff nurse in her case was
not effectively done and due to their misleading process she had to loose her life. It is the duty of
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every staff nurse and healthcare professional to check the history of their patient's prior to the
another treatment. In addition to this, the role of nurses in an healthcare organization with respect
to the patient's care is very essential. As they are the caregivers and also they helps the patient's
to manage their physical needs, cure health problems and also treat the wellness states. The
nurses needs to examine the conditions of the patient's so that they can provide them further
better treatment to increase their well-being. In addition to Mrs. Loveday's case, this should be
happen but they did not do their work effectively as they must at least check her past medical
history and then according to her past treatment the further medications should be done (Udod &
et. al., 2017).
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Andrews, J. (2020). A Comprehensive Review of the Implementation of Clinical Nurse Leader
Roles (Doctoral dissertation, University of Pittsburgh).
Fenney, E. (2020). The education and role of the new nurse paramedic. Journal of Paramedic
Practice, 12(12), 505-506.
Fowler, J. (2019). From staff nurse to nurse consultant: Survival Guide part 7: Surviving
professional relationships. British Journal of Nursing, 28(22), 1494-1494.
Hibbert, D. (2021). The Role and Practice of Clinical Nurse Specialists: An International Focus
on Saudi Arabia. In Clinical Nurse Specialist Role and Practice (pp. 213-223). Springer,
Cham.
Inwood, A & et. al., (2021). Clinician experience, perceptions, and acceptance of paediatric
complex care nurse practitioner roles. Collegian, 28(3), 303-309.
Udod, S. A & et. al., (2017). Impact of role stressors on the health of nurse managers: a Western
Canadian context. JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration, 47(3), 159-164.
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