Case Study: Gastroenteritis, Ruby Bell, Risk, and Prevention

This case study examines the case of Ruby Bell, a 4-year-old patient suffering from gastroenteritis, highlighting the specific risks associated with her age and the contagious nature of the illness. The assignment identifies potential clinical errors, including infection risks, inadequate monitoring, and delayed treatment decisions, emphasizing the impact of parental unavailability. It also provides preventive strategies, such as improved communication between nurses and caregivers, education on infection control, implementation of protective measures like hand hygiene and fall prevention, and the importance of consistent follow-up. The study references key literature to support the findings and recommendations, providing a comprehensive analysis of the patient's situation and actionable insights for healthcare providers to improve patient care and outcomes.

GASTROENTERITIS
Prevention strategies
Following preventive strategies can be
used to avoid above discussed clinical
errors.
Improved communication: Nurses must
improve communication with the carer so
that in their absence also decisions can be
taken on time without any delay.
Training and knowledge sharing:
Health care professionals, patient and
carer must be educated about infection
risk and methods to avoid such risk.
Protective measurements: There must be protective measurements such as hand wash and cleaning
facility, bed alarm, gloves and non-slip socks must be available and used so that infection and fall risk can
be eliminated (Perry, Potter and Ostendorf, 2015).
Adequate information flow: There must be regular follow up with patient and her parents so that suitable
arrangements and information flow can be arranged.
Patient chosen: Ruby Bell
Risk vulnerabilities for the chosen patient:
Ruby Bell is 4 years old and thus for the patient in the age group below 5 years need extra care and attention. She is suffering from highly contagious gastroenteritis. Due to minor age, patient is not able
to understand the clinical or hygienic aspect. She also has more trust on parents instead of nurses or any other health care staff. Thus, the unavailability of the parents can be critical in causing clinical
errors due to infection or the lack of communication and coordination.
Clinical errors and their potential consequences
The patient is suffering from contagious disease and there are several instances when patient is not accompanied by carer. The possible clinical errors which can influence her health are as follows:
• Infection risk: The lack of clinical and hygienic protection can increase the risk of infection (Bischoff-Ferrari and et.al., 2016). It will be harmful for the parents of patients as well as for other health
service providers.
• Inadequate monitoring and follow up: The irregular monitoring and follow up may cause negligence to critical symptoms or the condition of patient (Haynes, Smith and Hunsley, 2018). It can
affect the accuracy of nursing interventions.
• Failure to take action on time: On many instances when decisions takers of the patient are not around then there may be difficulty to make quick treatment decision. The delay in the treatment can
be life threatening.
REFERENCES
• Bischoff-Ferrari and et.al., 2016. Monthly high-
dose vitamin D treatment for the prevention of
functional decline: a randomized clinical trial.
JAMA internal medicine, 176(2), pp.175-183.
• Haynes, S.N., Smith, G.T. and Hunsley, J.D.,
2018. Scientific foundations of clinical
assessment. Routledge.
• Perry, A.G., Potter, P.A. and Ostendorf, W., 2015.
Nursing Interventions & Clinical Skills-E-Book.
Elsevier Health Sciences.