Nursing Negligence Case Study: Analysis of a Fatal Medical Error

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ESSAY
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................3
BODY........................................................................................................................................ 4
REFLECTION..............................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES............................................................................................................................. 8
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INTRODUCTION
This essay is based on a case study of a 97-year-old granny whose name was Nymphea
Anderson, who died due to heart attack but the cause of heart attack was not clear as the
nurse who treated Mrs Anderson had injected 3 medicines in the saline without consulting
with anyone this had led to add to the critical condition of heart attack. This essay will be
including the role of nurses and how did the incident happen. The consequences that the
family and the nurse had to face after the incident are to be identified and analyzed in this
essay. For not letting this incident happen again an action plan is to be formulated in this
essay and the implementation of the action plan in the nurses and their daily roles is to be
done. Lastly, a reflection of the incident and the learning’s gathered out of it will be
described in the essay.
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BODY
ROLE OF NURSE
The death of Mrs Anderson was the incident where the role of the nurse Mrs Lopez was
significant as the three medicines that were injected through the syringe to the deceased
was done in the wrong hand and without consulting anyone else. Mrs Anderson was
admitted in hospital because she was having pain in her arm and having severe problems of
nausea, vomiting, urinary infection and dehydration on the 27th of January. At the night of
30th January when the accused nurse begins her shift, Mrs Anderson was fine and soon the
nurse was to be released from the hospital, but when the old lady was facing problems in
swallowing the medicines the nurse injected the three medicines in the saline which was the
reason for her death.
Although the nurse Mrs Lopez in her defence is saying that Mrs Anderson was on her
doorstep to Death. The case is still in an investigation as the post mortem reports revealed
that in the body of deceased some particles are the reason for heart attack which activated
when the three medicines were injected in the body. The role of the nurse in injecting the
medicines in a wrong way led to the whole mismanagement in the body of deceased and
has increased the probability of heart attack to the next level eventually led to the death of
a 97-year-old lady.
The incident has a very bad effect on the family of Mrs Anderson as she was the mother of 5
children and grandmother of many grandchildren. The death was unnatural and shocking
for the rest of the family members and the family still has to fight for getting justice for the
deceased.
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IDENTIFICATION AND EVALUATION OF NURSING ACTIONS
The nurses’ actions are to be monitored and controlled very strictly according to Australian
health and safety norms. Due to negligence and non-reporting activity of nurse this whole
situation has occurred. The nurse is not taking responsibility for her actions and didn’t have
any rights for taking the authority which is creating a very bad impact on the environment in
the hospital.
NURSING ACTION PLAN
Below is the action plan that will help in achieving the trust of people and improving the
quality of performance of nurses and other clinical staff (Hansen and Beaver, 2012).
Identification of
need/ learning
Set goals Planned actions Resources Evaluation
To improve the
quality of the
work and to
improve the
implementation
of professional
medical
standards at the
hospital.
To
communicate
the profession
health
standards of
Australian
health and
safety norms.
To educate
nurses about
the actions
that can help
in regaining
the trust of the
patients and
their family.
Discussing the
role of the
nurses in
hospital and
what will be the
consequences if
the policies are
not
implemented by
the nurses.
All the nurses
have to be
communicated
with the policy
manuals
provided by the
Australian
health and
safety
institution.
Mentoring and
training is to be
done of all the
nurses, the
formation of a
disciplinary
committee
which will
monitor the
performances of
nurses.
The nurses
should be able
to demonstrate
their verbal and
written
communications
before taking
the decisions for
any patient.
The nurses
should be able
to specify the
proof for their
decision and
respective
actions and that
they have
consulted with
another staff
member for the
same.
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REFLECTION
I was assigned with the task to study the whole scenario and to identify the point of errors
that were made by the nurse which led to death. I have learned that from small errors in
medication can lead to death of a person and thus every decision that a nurse is bound to
make should be made after consulting a doctor or other superiors present in the hospital. A
lot of nurses may have done major mistakes but this led to a severe death case and a 97-
year-old lady has to spare her life facing a heart attack (Rolfe’s et al.’s 2001).
To prepare the report the problems faced here was that the thoughts and the views of every
member differs this led to the disputes and the decision was very difficult to be made.
Everyone has a different point of view and some members are initiative and some are not so
to motivate every member was a difficult task, but after a lot of discussions and helping
efforts of team members the report was made and slowly the differences were resolved
(Moon, 2013).
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CONCLUSION
The above essay can be summarized as the incident that led to the death of a 97-year-old
lady is because of the irresponsible behavior of the nurse, whether the nurse is accused of it
or not but she had made a huge blunder that cannot reoccur, thus for this proper training of
nurses is to be done also an action for resolving the above problem was made. The
formulated action plan with all the activities to fulfil the set objectives is necessary. The
action plan included activities that will ensure higher safety. The health and safety norms
led by the Australian government have to be followed in a very strict manner all the norms
regarding safety and health of the patients which are to be communicated effectively and
proper monitoring and controlling for ensuring proper implementation of the norms should
be done by the superiors.
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REFERENCES
Rofel, 2019. Reflection. (Online) Available at:
https://my.cumbria.ac.uk/media/MyCumbria/Documents/ReflectiveModelRolfe.pdf
(accessed on 19 July 2019).
SMH, 2019. Case study. (Online) Available at: https://www.smh.com.au/national/sydney-
grandmother-who-died-after-nurses-error-was-already-at-deaths-door-court-hears-
20150222-13lim1.html (Accessed on 19 July 2019).
SAQ, 2019. Action plan. (Online) Available at:
https://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/sites/default/files/migrated/National-Safety-and-
Quality-Health-Service-Standards-second-edition.pdf (Accessed on 19 July 2019).
SAQ, 2019. Policy norms and standards. (Online) Available at:
https://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/sites/default/files/migrated/NSQHS-Standards-Fact-
Sheet-Standard-4.pdf (Accessed on 19 July 2019).
Hansen, E. and Beaver, S., 2012. Faculty support for ESL nursing students: an Action plan for
success. Nursing Education Perspectives, 33(4), pp.246-250.
Moon, J.A., 2013. Reflection in learning and professional development: Theory and practice.
Routledge.
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