3803NRS Interprofessional Practice: Failure to Rescue in Healthcare

This essay addresses the critical issue of "failure to rescue" in the acute healthcare environment, focusing on patient safety. It defines failure to rescue and analyzes the incidence of adverse events in the Australian healthcare system, including medication errors and procedural complications, supported by statistical data from the Australian Government. The essay then evaluates the consequences of failure to rescue for patients, their families, and the healthcare system, discussing increased mortality, prolonged hospital stays, financial burdens, and emotional distress. It references studies by Roughead et al. (2013), Kuo et al. (2017), Mitchell et al. (2018), and others to support its analysis. The essay emphasizes the importance of nursing strategies in preventing patient deterioration and maintaining patient safety, highlighting the need for effective interventions to mitigate the negative impacts of failure to rescue.

Running head: ADVERSE HEALTH CARE INCIDENTS
Adverse Health Care Incidents
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Answer to Question C.
The issue of failure of rescue cases in the hospital care setting is one of the major
contributors of overall burden on the health care sector in Australia. There are various
reasons that can contribute to the cases of failure of rescue in the country and among those
incidents, cases of adverse drug effects, medication errors by the nurses; fall in hospitals can
be reported. According to the study of Roughead, Semple and Rosenfeld (2013), it is
observed that the rate of taking medicines is very high in the country and thus the rate of
medication related errors or other adverse incidents are also a serious area of concern. In this
regard, it can be stated that the in any 2 week time period, almost 70 per cent of the overall
population is taking medicines. As per the report of Australian Government, it is reported that
adverse events comprise of the injuries happen during care, adverse effects of drugs, and
conditions that occur after procedures. Therefore, the data suggested that the in the year of
2015-16, almost 576,000 hospitalisation cases reported about more than 1 adverse incidents
and it is almost 5.4 cases per 100 hospitalization reported. Therefore, in depth analysis of the
reasons of hospitalizations reported that, the adverse drugs, medicaments and biological
substances was related to hospitalization was almost 2 per 100 hospitalization cases and
procedures causing abnormal reactions are responsible for almost 3 per 100 hospitalization
cases (Australian Government, 2018).
Answer to Question D.
The consequences of failure to rescue cases for the patient and their family members
is not at all harmless and this issue is correlated with various adverse incidents such as higher
rate of mortality, enhanced lengths of hospitalization, health care cost enhancement and along
with this emotional wellbeing of the family members are also distorted. In this regard, the
study findings of Kuo et al. (2017) can be stated and as per this study, it was reported that by

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proper management the rate of mortality associated with the failure to rescue can be reduced.
In other words, the issue of failure to rescue eventually enhanced the burden of mortality. In
this retrospective study analysis performed in a trauma centre it is observed that among the
26, 557 patients 2735 patients had serious complications and among them 359 died due to
failure-to-rescue and thus the rate of failure-to-rescue was 13.2 per cent. Therefore, the
investigation result stated that among the overall deaths, 75.6 per cent or 272 deaths were
non-preventable and 65 deaths were marked as potentially preventable deaths and 6.1 per
cent or 22 deaths can be marked as preventable by the peers. Therefore, the study result
repored about the statistically significant relationship in between failure-to-rescue status and
death rates of hospital patients. In another study by Mitchell et al. (2018), it was reported that
the issue of critical conditions related to failure to rescue can cause prolonged stay in
hospitals and thereby enhance the financial burden on the patients. In this study it was
reported that the cases of long hospital stay days, unplanned hospitalization is closely related
with the economic burden and thereby affect the overall health care system. Another crucial
impact of this issue is associated with the emotional distress of the patients’ family members
and it is not at all easy for them to cope up with the issue easily. Therefore, the study of
Gaeeni et al. (2015), reported that family members along with the care givers or the family
members of the people face a serious mental trauma following the deaths of their loved ones.
This study finding is supported by the study of Johansson et al. (2018) and in this studies the
perceptions of the family members of the ICU patients who have not survived are examined
by using a qualitative study design. The study emotional burden is same for all types of
deaths of the family members and thus it can be applied to the scenario of failure to rescue
cases as well.

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References
Australian Government (2018). Australia’s Health 2018. Australian Government. Retrieved
from- https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-health/australias-health-2018/contents/
indicators-of-australias-health/adverse-events-treated-in-hospital [Accessed on 13th April
2020]
Gaeeni, M., Farahani, M. A., Seyedfatemi, N., & Mohammadi, N. (2015). Informational
support to family members of intensive care unit patients: the perspectives of families and
nurses. Global journal of health science, 7(2), 8.
Johansson, M., Wåhlin, I., Magnusson, L., Runeson, I., & Hanson, E. (2018). Family
members' experiences with intensive care unit diaries when the patient does not
survive. Scandinavian journal of caring sciences, 32(1), 233-240.
Kuo, L. E., Kaufman, E., Hoffman, R. L., Pascual, J. L., Martin, N. D., Kelz, R. R., &
Holena, D. N. (2017). Failure-to-rescue after injury is associated with preventability: The
results of mortality panel review of failure-to-rescue cases in trauma. Surgery, 161(3),
782-790.
Mitchell, R., Harvey, L., Stanford, R., & Close, J. (2018). Health outcomes and costs of acute
traumatic spinal injury in New South Wales, Australia. The Spine Journal, 18(7), 1172-
1179.
Roughead, L., Semple, S., & Rosenfeld, E. (2013). Literature review: medication safety in
Australia. Sydney: Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care.

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