Role of the Registered Nurse in Maintaining a Safe Clinical Environment

Running head: NURSING 1
Nursing
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NURSING 2
Role of the Registered Nurse in maintaining a safe clinical environment
Registered Nurses play a significant role in promoting safety clinical environment
(Purpora, 2015). Firstly, registered nurses educate the surgery patients together with their family
members regarding their personal safety in the clinical setting. This education serves a
significant role in reducing the number of accidents in the clinical setting. Registered nurses are
also the key players in formulating clinical safety rules and regulations and designing posters to
guide the entire staff, patients and their family members hence promoting safety in the clinical
setting.
Also, Registered Nurses ensure that the relationship between patient safety and nursing
work is maintained. In case a problem related to the safety of patients arises, these nurses are in
the best position to find a lasting possible solution and on time. Similarly, when it comes to
issues concerning safety, they are counted upon to provide useful information and potential
mitigation measures. Finally, in Canada, these nurses have been at the forefront in driving
forward agendas concerning safety and healthcare quality in the facilities.
Purpose of a Surgical Safety Checklist
A Surgical Safety Checklist was introduced to reduce complications and mortality that
arise due to surgery. It also helps in improving teamwork communication within the Operating
Room (Solsky, 2018). It reduces a lot of errors. Importantly, it helps in ensuring that antibiotic
administration is adhered to appropriately. Checklists have also helped in preventing wrong-site
surgeries. Lastly, if Safety Checklists are used appropriately, then best practices will be adhered
to in health care facilities.
Importance of confirming a patient's identity

NURSING 3
Patient’s identity procedures play a significant role. Confirming patient’s identity
prevents the occurrence of errors such as wrong discharge, testing or medication. Furthermore,
during surgical operations, confirming patient’s identity help in the eradication of wrong
procedures (Härkänen, 2018). When patients are properly identified, their useful information is
readily available to promote effective operations especially in time of emergencies. Also, the use
of at least two identifiers for patient identification helps to maintain the safety of patients.
Monitoring and identification of patients' condition in the hospital is paramount. For this reason,
patient identification should be accurately done. With correct patient identification, the medical
condition of patients in the hospital will be easily identified.
Importance of marking the patient’s surgery site/location
Marking of patient’s surgery site helped prevent the performance of wrong surgical
operations to the wrong people. In some cases, surgical procedures have been performed to the
wrong people or the wrong sides. This has been found to be due to wrong marking the patient's
surgery site or location (St, 2016). Also, correct marking of the patient's surgery site/location
promotes realization of a clear pattern of the underlying causes of errors that occur during
surgery. Furthermore, marking patient’s surgery site promotes proper planning and preparation
for the surgical process. This includes timely assembling of surgical equipment.
Importance of knowing if the patient has any known allergies
Antibiotic prophylaxis must be administered to patients before they undergo any surgical
procedure. Therefore, the importance of assessing the patients’ allergy is to enable the health
care provider to determine the correct antibiotic to administer before a surgical procedure