Reference no: EM133803819
Question
Synthesize the passage: Responding to errors When the response to unintentional errors is punishment, the consequences threaten, not protect, patient safety. If nurses fear that mistakes will be punished, there is no benefit to the nurses for reporting their errors. Instead, errors are unreported, hidden, or denied.
1. Concealing errors has a negative impact on patient care because if errors are not acknowledged and reported, interventions to mitigate them cannot be applied and patients are at risk for experiencing negative outcomes.
2. Additionally, if system factors have contributed to the error, they will not be identified and corrected, making repeated mistakes highly probable. Students' failure to report and learn from their errors also produces gaps in knowledge and understanding that could negatively affect their future patient care.
3. Nurses must be career-long learners.
4. Learning occurs in a variety of ways, including by making mistakes. In fact, errors may be considered the essential teacher.
5. If errors are a source of learning, how can learning be expected if mistakes are not identified and analyzed? Punishment of errors removes the learning opportunity not only for the individual nurse or nursing student but also for the organization.