Free Essay: A Qualitative Research Critique on Patient Involvement for Improved Patient Safety

Patient safety is one of the areas that every medical practitioner takes seriously to ensure patients are not exposed to risk factors that would result in injuries and death. The risk factors associated with patients are summarized as medication errors. Medication errors are a common issue in all healthcare settings. It is an ongoing problem that affects neo nurses as well as veterans, almost daily. A system has been set to alert nurses and physicians of potential healthcare errors. Despite having errors in place a mistake reduction, nurses' errors have continued to exist.

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Most importantly, physicians have been trying to identify and rectify different forms of common administration medication errors to avoid putting a human's life at risk. Physicians need to possess skills for acknowledging mistakes before attending to the patient. Either, medication rights are in place to help diminish the number and severity of medication errors. All hands have to be on deck from the original doctors' orders to the nurse's administration to decrease all mistakes. Patients’ inclusion is one of the effective mechanisms that can help in reducing medication error. Therefore, this article seeks to focus on a qualitative research critique on patient involvement for improved patient safety.

Notably, the title on the “Patient involvement for improved patient safety” by Skagerström et al. (2017) indicates that patients are one of the stakeholders that can be used to reduce medication errors in different health centers across the world. Indeed, patient safety has become a top priority for healthcare organizations as well as the public. Patient safety has been heightened in Swedish hospitals due to preventable adverse events running as high as 8.6% in-hospital care in 2009. However, the extent of the problem is not smaller in Sweden than elsewhere. The issue has prompt Sweden to enhance its patient safety laws. This article is relevant since it tries to campaign and enlighten people so that patient safety can be improved by the help of patients themselves.

Patients are at the center of care. Their interactions with healthcare professionals are seen as a counterbalance of the inefficiencies within the healthcare system. For this reason, healthcare organizations are looking to increase patient involvement in the premise that increase patient interaction with healthcare professionals improves patient safety. The World Health Organization has been promoting patient engagement to foster better collaboration and more effective communication among healthcare professionals and patients (Skagerström et al., 2017). The problem statement is clearly stated, and the content flows well. The significance of the problem is introduced very early on in the study. It gives the reader an understanding of why the study is justified and why the problem warrants research at this particular time. The phenomenon of interest —nurses' experiences and perceptions regarding patient involvement was clear. The study is feasible because data can be collected on nurses' experiences and viewpoints on patient safety and participation. More information could be added to the problem statement tailoring to nurses' perceptions and experiences.

The article opens up for an exploration into nurses' experiences and perceptions of patient involvement for safer patient care in collaboration and interaction with healthcare professionals. The study did not include any research hypotheses because it is a qualitative study. There are no research questions in the survey. Reviews have shown that patients are keen to participate in safety-related work to improve safety in the healthcare system. However, this does not come without its drawbacks. The report that patients are more focused on their illness and the time and energy is not there for them to be involved. Moreover, patients may not want to report their problems because the providers' responses may not be favorable, or reporting may compromise the kindliness the providers have towards the patients. Not only that, but patients may also be reluctant to question or advise healthcare professionals about their work because of the idea that they "represent traditional medical authority" (Skagerström et al., 2017), and that is deemed as unacceptable to the patients.

Besides, the emphasis is placed on nurses' role in helping patients feel safe and protected in the healthcare setting by "identifying, interrupting and correcting adverse medical events" (Skagerström et al., 2017). Consequently, reports that the interaction between nurses and patients is essential, but depending on the effectiveness of the communication, this could either enhance or prevent patient safety. Despite the importance of nurses' role, few studies have been carried out to explore nurses' perspectives towards patients' involvement. The literature review is easy to read and understand. There aren't many studies on patients' participation. The focus is on patients' experiences and barriers to reporting; however, it stresses the importance of nurses' involvement regarding safety. While limited studies are done on nurses' perceptions and experiences regarding patient safety, it provides supporting studies. Both primary and secondary current sources are used to establish an understanding of what is being studied. The research did not explicitly state the theory used. However, based on the premise, it could be implied that the theory is Symbolic Interactionism. The study provides a theoretical framework that focuses on nurses' and patients' behaviors and social interactions.

Concisely, there are several limitations to the study. The recruitment of nurses who were found to be in favor of patient involvement could have led to a bias towards participants. Because of the emphasis that is placed on patient engagement, this may have been the reason why the findings positive. Nurses had a different idea of patients' safety during the interview. The strength of the limitations is that nurses were based on different units with many years of experience. There were no male participants, which is acceptable since the population of nurses were mostly female. However, the discussion was clear. The findings were related to the purpose and problem of the study and were not unexpected. The results support the previous studies. New literature reviews were introduced in the discussion. The Implications and limitations were clearly stated. Suggestions for nursing practice and education were insufficient. More information could have been added for recommendation purposes.

References

Skagerström, J., Ericsson, C., Nilsen, P., Ekstedt, M., & Schildmeijer, K. (2017). Patient involvement for improved patient safety: A qualitative study of nurses’ perceptions and experiences. Nursing Open, 4(4), 230-239.