NUR 550 Electronic Handovers and Evidence Based Culture Discussion

NUR 550 Electronic Handovers and Evidence Based Culture Discussion

NUR 550 Electronic Handovers and Evidence Based Culture Discussion

ORDER NOW FOR CUSTOMIZED AND ORIGINAL ESSAY PAPERS 

DQ 1:

Based on the PICOT you developed for NUR-550, summarize the intervention you are proposing. How does this support the population of focus, your setting, and role? Justify how the problem you selected to investigate is amenable to a research-based intervention using the PICOT format. Include your PICOT statement with your response. NUR 550 Electronic Handovers and Evidence Based Culture Discussion

(the PICOT statement will be attached below)

DQ 2:

Explain the importance of a “spirit of inquiry” in an evidence-based culture and what you can do as an advanced registered nurse to encourage this within your practice or organization. In response to your peers, compare the role and implementation of EBP in your specialty area with another advanced registered nurse specialty.

2attachments

Slide 1 of 2

• attachment_1attachment_1
• attachment_2attachment_2

Electronic Handovers in Public Hospitals for Effective Communication

Wendy Fernandez

Grand Canyon University

June 2021

Electronic Handovers in Public Hospitals for Effective Communication

Incomprehensive handover is one of the nursing practice problems affecting the delivery of effective healthcare services. Communication of patient information that occurs when nurses hand over shifts is often incomplete, inaccurate, and disjointed (Fealy et al, 2018). This results in incidences of medical errors. Whether the use of electronic handovers and structured communication tools can help reduce adverse medical events and increase the quality of care, within 1 year, for heart disease patients is the question that the project seeks to address. This essay describes this PICOT question in detail. NUR 550 Electronic Handovers and Evidence Based Culture Discussion

Population

In-patients diagnosed with heart disease are the target population for this project. The objective is to support nurses so that they can raise the standard of care for these patients. While heart disease can affect anybody, a majority of the target population are elderly adults from the age of 65 years onwards. Heron (2021) noted that heart disease accounts for 25.1% of the annual death among elderly adults while it only accounts for 3% of deaths among youths. The disease is also more prevalent among non-Hispanic blacks and non-Hispanic whites (CDC, 2020b). Non-Hispanics, therefore, form a large portion of the patient population for the project. NUR 550 Electronic Handovers and Evidence Based Culture Discussion

Patients at risk of dying due to heart disease will be accorded special attention. According to the CDC (2020 a), heart disease patients with other chronic conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity are more likely to die as compared to their counterparts without other chronic diseases. The percentages of Americans suffering from blood pressure and obesity are 33% and 72% respectively (CDC, 2020a). This finding implies that a majority of patients likely to benefit from the projects would be those with heart disease and at least one other chronic illness.

Intervention

The proposed intervention is to introduce electronic handovers as a mandatory requirement for all public hospitals. The introduction of electronic handovers would involve the implementation of a uniform and systematic approach to communication between incoming and off-shift nurses (Shahid & Thomas, 2018). Hospitals would have to acquire e-handover software and train nurses on how to use the software to improve the quality of communication (Belardes et al, 2020). A systematic tool for communication is incorporated in the e-handover software to ensure that the handover process is standardized and effective.

The intervention incorporates policies and goals that support health care equity. The U. S department of health implements a policy known as Healthy People 2030, which seeks to enable the country to achieve health equity for everyone (Liburd et al, 2020). Its goal is to support stakeholders in reducing health disparities. The proposed intervention incorporates this policy by creating a system of communication that nurses would use to provide safe standardized care to heart disease patients, and thus reduce health disparities. Given that the e-handover system is customizable, it would be possible to provide elderly adults and non-Hispanic groups (who are most vulnerable) with high-quality care services that meet their specific health needs.  The goal of the policy is also to create healthcare environments where all Americans can achieve their potential for health (Liburd et al, 2020). The introduction of e-handovers in all public hospitals incorporates this goal because it would create a safe environment in hospital wards, where adverse medical events are minimized, and heart disease patients are given high-quality care regardless of their race, age, and economic status.

Manual handover involves the use of papers and whiteboards to communicate patient information. It also involves verbal communication between incoming and off-shift nurses right inside the wards (Fealy et al, 2018). The proposed intervention differs from previous practice in that e-handovers involve the use of structured tools that would ensure information is communicated in a standardized format. In the previous practice, however, no structured tool is used and thus communication format is often varied (Fealy et al, 2018). Where manual handover is used, both incoming and off-shift nurses have to be physically present in the wards for a handover process to proceed. This process is often interrupted by patients’ families. With the e-handover software, however, the handover processes proceed even in the absence of the incoming nurses. This process is not interrupted and hence delays in treatment are also minimized.

Outcomes

A reduction in adverse medical events would be the expected outcome of the intervention. Belardes et al (2020) noted that miscommunication during manual handovers accounts for 80% of the adverse medical events that occur in hospitals. Therefore, the introduction of e-handovers is expected to reduce medical errors by improving the accuracy and effectiveness of communication during the handover of shifts.

A period of one year is needed to introduce e-handover systems in public hospitals and evaluate the outcomes. The first three months would be used to install the software and train the nurses on its use. The outcome would be evaluated in the last month by the official in the department of health. This duration is sufficient to put in place structures for comprehensive handover in all hospitals and address the problem effectively.

Nursing science

Nursing science is concerned with concepts and principles that support the wellbeing of patients. Knowledge about these principles developed through nursing science research can be translated and used to prove the handover process so that positive outcomes can be realized for heart disease patients. Data on epidemiology, genomics, and genetics can be analyzed and used to identify individuals at risk of dying from heart disease so that they can be provided with appropriate care. Given that e-handover software can be integrated with electronic health records (Belardes et al, 2020), it is possible to upload this data into the software so that it is accessible to all nurses who handle these particular patients. Data on social determinants of health can also be used to support population health management. For heart disease patients, social determinants of health include alcohol addiction and diets (CDC, 2020 a). An analysis of data on alcohol addiction, for example, can help in the identification of individuals at the greatest risk of developing serious complications related to heart disease. Nurses can then develop the right treatment plans to manage their conditions.

References

CDC. (2020a). Heart disease and stroke. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/resources/publications/factsheets/heart-disease-stroke.htm

CDC. (2020b). Heart disease facts. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/facts.htm

Delardes, B., McLeod, L., & Chakraborty, S. (2020). What is the effect of electronic clinical handovers on patient outcomes: A systematic review. Health Informatics Journal, 1-12.

Fealy, G., Donelly, S., Doyle, G., Brenner, M., Hughes, M, Mylotte, E.,…Ziki, M. (2018). Clinical handover practices among healthcare practitioners in acute care services: A qualitative study. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 28(2), 1-9.

Heron, M. (2021). Deaths: Leading Causes for 2018. National Vital Statistics Reports, 70 (4), 1-65,

Liburd, L., Hall, E., Mpofu, J., Williams, S., Bouye, K., & Penman-Aguilar, A. (2020).Addressing Health Equity in Public Health Practice: Frameworks, Promising Strategies, and Measurement Considerations. Annu. Rev. Public Health, 41, 417–32.

Shahid, S., & Thomas, S. (2018). Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation (SBAR) Communication Tool for Handoff in Health Care – A Narrative Review. Saf Health, 4, 7.

Appendix 1

PICOT Draft

Name: Wendy Fernandez

Part 1: Propose a relevant nursing practice problem for an evidence-based practice project. Explain why you selected this topic and how it is relevant to advance nursing practice. Include one research article that demonstrates support for the nursing practice problem.

Incomprehensive handing off is one of the major nursing practice problems in the U. S. According to Roslan & Lim (2017), incomprehensive handoff implies communication breakdown during nurse-to-nurse shift change. This topic is chosen because it significantly impacts patients’ safety. It accounts for more than 70% of adverse medical events, and in-hospital deaths (Shahid & Thoman, 2018). The topic is relevant since inaccurate reporting of patient information can lead to medical errors, delay in treatment, and/or the formulation of inappropriate patients’ treatment plans.

Part II: In the table below, describe the population and the intervention. (You will continue drafting the PICOT, completing the shaded areas in Topic 3.)