Assessment 2: Research on Patient Safety for Gastroenteritis Patients

This report focuses on patient safety within a healthcare setting, specifically addressing the case of Ruby Bell, a 4-year-old child suffering from gastroenteritis. The introduction highlights the interconnectedness of communication and patient safety, emphasizing how clear information and trust in healthcare professionals can improve patient outcomes. The main body identifies Ruby's vulnerability and the associated risks, including inappropriate information, poor communication, inadequate skills, and system errors. It explores these risks, referencing various research articles from databases like Ovid, which discuss topics such as communication barriers, risk factors in child care, medication errors, and rotavirus infections. The report synthesizes these findings to underscore the importance of proactive measures to mitigate errors and ensure safe patient care. The conclusion reinforces the significance of patient safety, summarizing key risk factors and emphasizing the need for comprehensive strategies to protect vulnerable patients like Ruby Bell. The report includes a detailed reference list of cited sources.

RESEARCH

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..............................................................................................................................................3
Identification of chosen patient and the reason why they are at risk........................................................3
CONCLUSION...........................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES..........................................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
The communication and patient safety are related to each other because by providing the
patient with proper information regarding the diseases and the treatment required will provide
the patient with the trust on the healthcare professional which will help in increasing the chances
of recovery of the patients. Patient safety at the healthcare leads to improved image of the care
providers. In this assignment, it will provide information regarding the Ruby bell which is the 4
year old child suffering from Gastroenteritis. It is a disease that is characterised by vomiting and
diarrhoea. Moreover, This assignment will provide information regarding the risk of error
occurring while they are in hospital receiving the nursing care.
MAIN BODY
Identification of chosen patient and the reason why they are at risk
The patient for the research is Ruby bell which is 4 years old suffering from
gastroenteritis. It is a disease which is also known as infectious Diarrhoea (Tobiano and et.al.,
2016). Patient safety is important for performing the operation in the healthcare. There are
various risk error which are present in the healthcare for the Ruby
 Inappropriate information provided to the patient regarding the patient health.
 Failure to disclose the complication and risk of intervention
 Poor communication between department
 Inadequacy of skills and knowledge
 Inadequate supervision
 lack of privacy
The patient is a 4 year old child which does not have any knowledge and understanding
regarding the situation. The patient require close monitoring and supervisor and it is required that
the healthcare professional must provide every details of the patient to its parents to have a
proper treatment. The patient is very young and thus it is not possible to obtain valid consent to
an intervention from the patient (Sahay, Hutchinson and East, 2015). Failure to communicate
with the health professionals provide reasonable standard of care. Moreover, failure to
communicate with supervisors when patient safety is in Jeopardy. There are various human
errors which act as risk of error for the vulnerable patients which are based on skill, knowledge,
rule etc (Chaboyer and et.al., 2016). The patient have lack of understanding due to which these
errors may impact on their health such as unhygienic environment (Gluyas, 2015). The type of
error are human errors and system errors which have their impact on the patient health (Bucknall
and et.al., 2016). The individual errors of judgement, writing the prescription , failure to
communicate, failure to record accurately and poor management of the staff resources can have
its impact on the health of Ruby bell.

The information is gathered through the database of Ovid in which the search strategy adopted
is through the use of keywords gastroenteritis , patient safety, child care and medical error , diseases or
preschooler , communication barrier (Searches, 2019).
This article is providing information regarding decision making for the patient suffering
from acute gastroenteritis. It has involved the decision made by the nurses for the treatment of
the patient. Acute gastroenteritis is the most frequently encountered problems in pediatric
emergency department (Implementation of clinical decision support in young children with acute
gastroenteritis: a randomized controlled trial at the emergency department, 2017). This article
was published in the year 2014. This article is relevant because with the help of this information
the healthcare will be able to reduce the risk of errors which have the adverse impact on health
of the patient. The article is relevant for the study because it will provide information to the
healthcare for the better patient health by reducing the risk of errors.

This article is searched through the use of keyword communication barrier. It has
provided information regarding the communication barrier which leads to risk of errors while the
patient is being treated in the healthcare (Communicating Gastrointestinal Symptoms: The
Patient's Challeng, 2018). It has identified that the patient have difficulty in identifying the
symptom regarding gastroenteritis due to this the describing symptom hampered access to
healthcare. The healthcare professional are required to provide them better treatment on their
disease in order to provide their patient with safe treatment and reduce the risk of error which
may hamper the health of the patient while getting the treatment. Moreover, the patient due to
lack of knowledge are not able to provide information to the healthcare professional regarding
the symptom which leads to risk of errors such as misunderstanding of the symptom will leads to
wrong prescription by the healthcare professional.

This article has provide information regarding potential risk factors in child care will help
in understanding the risk of errors which have their impact on the health of the child while
getting the treatment (Perceived potential risk factors in child care, 2004). It has provided
various risk factors while treating the child which consist of large influx of patient, lack of
professional experience, lack of inter- professional communication and the deficiencies related
to the working hours. This article was published in the year 2004. This article is relevant for the
research as it will assist in identifying the risk of errors which have their potential impact on the
health of the patients.

This article is based on parents find medical errors and safety incident in the hospital
which is published in the year 2017. This article is relevant for the study because it will assist in
identifying the potential risk of errors which have their impact on the health of the patients and
will leads to mistreatment of the disease of the patient. There are various medication errors
which affect the patient safety in the healthcare for the vulnerable patients because they don’t
have the understanding level (Parents find medical errors and safety incidents that hospitals mis,
2017). It is being identified that due to the medication error the health of the patient is at risk
due to mistake in writing the prescription. Moreover, due to errors in providing the medicine for
the disease from which the patient is suffering is also the another risk factor which have their
impact on the health of the patient and leads to inefficient patient safety in the healthcare.

This article is about the Rotavirus infection caused in child due to gastroenteritis it will
assist in treatment of the Ruby bell for the fast recovery from the disease through the use of anti
– retrovirus vaccination which will help in reducing the risk of errors which are present in the
health care and have their impact on the patient safety while they are getting the treatment in the
hospital (Rotavirus vaccine effectiveness in preventing hospitalizations due to gastroenteritis: a
descriptive epidemiological study from Germany, 2019). This article was published in the year
2019 and it relevant for the study because it will assist in the treatment of Ruby bell. This article
will help in reducing the risk of error by providing the information regarding the vaccination for
the disease that will help in reducing the error of wrong medication provided to the patient which
will affect the patient safety in the healthcare.
CONCLUSION
From the assignment it has been concluded about the importance of patient safety in the
health care for reducing the risk of error. Moreover, it has provided information regarding the various risk
of error which consist of human error and system error which include error in writing the prescription,
lack of communication, failure to record etc. that affect the treatment of the patient. In the given case

Ruby bell which is a 4 years old child suffering from gastroenteritis it is required to provide the patient
with the proper safety measure while they are in healthcare getting the treatment.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Tobiano, G. and et.al., 2016. Activities patients and nurses undertake to promote patient
participation. Journal of Nursing Scholarship. 48(4). pp.362-370.
Sahay, A., Hutchinson, M. and East, L., 2015. Exploring the influence of workplace supports and
relationships on safe medication practice: A pilot study of Australian graduate
nurses. Nurse education today. 35(5). pp.e21-e26.
Bucknall, T. K. and et.al., 2016. Engaging patients and families in communication across
transitions of care: an integrative review protocol. Journal of advanced nursing. 72(7).
pp.1689-1700.
Thomson, K. and et.al., 2015. Interprofessional experiences of recent healthcare graduates: A
social psychology perspective on the barriers to effective communication, teamwork,
and patient-centred care. Journal of interprofessional care. 29(6). pp.634-640.
Chaboyer, W. and et.al., 2016. Patient engagement in clinical communication: an exploratory
study. Scandinavian journal of caring sciences. 30(3). pp.565-573.
Gluyas, H., 2015. Effective communication and teamwork promotes patient safety. Nursing
Standard (2014+). 29(49). p.50.
Online
Rotavirus vaccine effectiveness in preventing hospitalizations due to gastroenteritis: a descriptive
epidemiological study from Germany. 2019 .[Online]. Available through :<
http://ovidsp.tx.ovid.com.ezproxy.lib.uts.edu.au/sp-3.33.0b/ovidweb.cgi?
&S=NLCMFPNANPDDMDJONCDKGCOBEPFGAA>
Parents find medical errors and safety incidents that hospitals miss. 2017. [Online]. Available
through :< http://ovidsp.tx.ovid.com.ezproxy.lib.uts.edu.au/sp-3.33.0b/ovidweb.cgi?
&S=NLCMFPNANPDDMDJONCDKGCOBEPFGAA>
Perceived potential risk factors in child care. 2004. [Online]. Available through :<
http://ovidsp.tx.ovid.com.ezproxy.lib.uts.edu.au/sp-3.33.0b/ovidweb.cgi?
&S=NLCMFPNANPDDMDJONCDKGCOBEPFGAA>

Communicating Gastrointestinal Symptoms: The Patient's Challenge. 2018. [Online]. Available
through :< http://ovidsp.tx.ovid.com.ezproxy.lib.uts.edu.au/sp-3.33.0b/ovidweb.cgi?
&S=NLCMFPNANPDDMDJONCDKGCOBEPFGAA00&Complete+Ref>
Implementation of clinical decision support in young children with acute gastroenteritis: a
randomized controlled trial at the emergency department. 2017. [Online]. Available
through :< http://ovidsp.tx.ovid.com.ezproxy.lib.uts.edu.au/sp-3.33.0b/ovidweb.cgi?
&S=NLCMFPNANPDDMDJONCDKGCOBEPFGAA00&Complete+Ref>
Searches. 2019 . [Online]. Available through :<
http://ovidsp.tx.ovid.com.ezproxy.lib.uts.edu.au/sp-3.33.0b/ovidweb.cgi>