Case Study: Analyzing a Critical Incident in Healthcare Settings

This case study examines a critical incident within a healthcare setting involving a nurse, a senior doctor, and a patient named Sherry. The incident revolves around the doctor's failure to adhere to proper hygiene protocols, specifically not washing his hands before treating Sherry's wound after visiting another patient, and the nurse's inaction in addressing this breach. The case highlights issues of medical negligence, the importance of aseptic techniques, and the significance of patient safety. The analysis delves into the consequences of the doctor's actions, the nurse's failure to report the incident, and the overall impact on patient care. The case underscores the need for adherence to medical protocols, effective communication, and a proactive approach to ensure patient well-being. The case study also references relevant literature on critical incident techniques and analysis.

Formative Assignment

The critical incident is related to an incident which took place in the health care settings
within a renowned health care centre. The name of the patient was Sherry who was admitted to
the hospital and was under the guidance of a senior doctor and a nurse who was assisting the
senior doctor. There was a time when the senior doctor asked the nurse to remove the dressing of
the wound on Sherry's body. Now, as commanded by the mentor, the nurse who was providing
due assistance to the senior health care professional followed the instructions and thereby
removed the wound dressing. For this purpose, the nurse made use of the aseptic technique and
consequently cleansed the wound thereby. This was done so as to save the time of the senior
doctor and directly have the professional onto looking the wound and thereby finding the correct
medication or treatment for it. Now, it was observed by the nurse that when the senior doctor
came after visiting another patient in the next ward, the professional did not wash his hands and
touched the wounds of the patient directly. Also, the doctor was wearing a loose watch and
thereby the nurse was concerned about the wound of Sherry getting infected as a result of the
careless and negligent actions of the senior health care professional. At that moment, the nurse
could speak up something or ask the doctor to take proper measures before touching the wounds
of the patient but she did not utter a word as she thought it was too late for her to do so and the
doctor was already examining the patient. This can be said to be clear negligence on the part of
the senior health care professional as he played with the life of the patient whose wound could
get affected by the action. Also, the case depicts the carelessness displayed by the nurse who did
not ask the doctor to wash his hands or use the sanitiser before operating another patient
successively.
The case could be handled in a better manner with the nurse reporting the behaviour of
the senior health care professional to the senior management of the hospital. This would have
called for the imposition of a strict action against the senior doctor for carrying out such a
negligent as well as careless act in the health care settings whereby the life of an individual in the
ward is in the hands of the doctor. However, the contrary happened and the negligence shown on
the part of nurse further elevated the risk to the life of the patient. The whole case demonstrated
that the measures taken by the medical staff while operating the patient were ineffective and
careless.
1

2

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Viergever, R.F., 2019. The critical incident technique: method or methodology?. Qualitative
health research, 29(7), pp.1065-1079.
Neuhaus, C., Huck, M., Hofmann, G., St. Pierre, M., Weigand, M.A. and Lichtenstern, C., 2018.
Applying the human factors analysis and classification system to critical incident
reports in anaesthesiology. Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica, 62(10), pp.1403-
1411.
Denecke, K., 2016. Automatic analysis of critical incident reports: requirements and use cases.
Van der Westhuizen, J. and Stanz, K., 2017. Critical incident reporting systems: A necessary
multilevel understanding. Safety science, 96, pp.198-208.
3