Patient Safety

NOTE: While this Workgroup ended in 2005, you may find information included here useful.

ENA ED Workplace Safety Workgroup

The Emergency Department Workplace Safety Workgroup, has once again received its charges from the ENA Board of Directors to address issues of both patient and staff workplace safety. Ensuring patient safety has become an issue of high visibility in all health care environments. It is reported that between 44,000 and 98,000 people die each year due to errors that are made in hospitals and other health care sites.¹ ED nurses faced with rising patient acuity and volumes and a shrinking workforce must be poised to address safety issues head on. Critical issues include reducing the harm to ED patients from falls, misidentification, medication errors, device misadventures, wrong site procedures, burns, and other medical-related events. Additionally, emergency departments must protect staff from harmful events due to many factors including, but not limited to, workplace violence, percutaneous sharps/needlestick injuries, musculoskeletal injuries, and exposures to hazardous materials and communicable diseases.² ED nurses have a responsibility to learn the appropriate actions required to ensure a safe and healthy environment, not only for patients but also for their colleagues involved in emergency care.

National organizations, such as the National Quality Forum (www.qualityforum.org), the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (www.jcaho.org), and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (http://psnet.ahrq.gov/) have stepped onto center stage developing positions, mandates, and research projects related to patient safety and quality in the health care environment. The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) (www.acep.org) and the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) (www.saem.org) have appointed patient safety committees, and they continue to develop research-based programs to promote a culture of safety in emergency care. Each year the ENA acknowledges the important role that nurses play in maximizing safe healthcare environments by appointing a Patient Safety Workgroup. This four-member special interest group was first established in 2003, and continues to act as a resource to ENA members.

In the past three years, the work group has assisted ENA in creating or revising position statements related to safety, including the Percutaneous Sharp/Needle Stick Injuries, approved in 2003, and the Patient Safety position statement recently approved by the Board of Directors in March 2005. These statements can be viewed at http://www.ena.org/about/position.

Another exciting activity has been the development of a patient safety section on the ENA Web site. You can find patient safety resources on the ENA Website at the following link: http://www.ena.org/nursing/patient_safety/. There, you can also find information on the book released by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in November 2003, Keeping Patients Safe: Transforming the Work Environment of Nurses.

The workgroup hosts a networking session at the ENA Scientific Assembly every year. This year, the ED Workplace Safety networking session will be held on Thursday, September 15, 2005 from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. in Nashville, TN. We hope that you will come share your thoughts and concerns with us regarding ED workplace safety. Your stories and discussions will help to direct the work of this safety group in the future!

Ensuring safety is not a “sprint” in today’s healthcare environment, but a marathon that requires everyone’s attention. With the support of the ENA Board of Directors, the safety workgroup will continue its efforts towards shared safety goals and will communicate its progress through the ENA Web site and in the ENA Connection. For continued updates on safety, you can look for Susan Paparella’s medication safety column in the Journal of Emergency Nursing (JEN) entitled Danger Zone.

We CAN and MUST work together to influence patient and healthcare professionals’ safety in the emergency care setting.

The 2005 ED Workplace Safety Workgroup was comprised of:
Susan, Paparella, RN, MSN, Chairperson
Deborah Cioffi, RN, BSN
Leticia Domingo, RN, MSN, CRNP, CEN
Tamara Williams, MSN, APN
Annabelle (Anne) May, RN, BSN, CEN, Board Liaison

References:

1. Institute of Medicine. (1999). To err is human: Building a safer health system. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
2. American Nurses Association (2003). Handle with Care Campaign: Fact Sheet. Retrieved April 10, 2005, from http://nursingworld.org/handlewithcare/factsheet.htm

Revised: June 9, 2005

Institute of Medicine of the National Academies report on"Keeping Patients Safe: Transforming the Work Environment of Nurses"

Patient Safety Resources

IHI Programs

The American Nurses Association is working as a strategic partner with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) in the Saving 100,000 Lives Campaign www.ihi.org/IHI/Programs/Campaign/, which aims to educate nurses and others on ways to enhance patient safety in the hospital setting. This breakthrough campaign provides a unique opportunity for nurses to make an impact in effecting positive change in patient safety/advocacy at individual hospitals and across the nation.

Over 2500 hospitals throughout all 50 states and the District of Columbia have already signed on. Nursing involvement directly supports ANA's Patient Safety/Advocacy strategic imperative. By effecting positive change around issues that are so critical to nursing and its future, ANA is advancing its ultimate goal, patient safety and quality nursing care.

ANA has developed educational materials to help nurses get hospitals involved in the campaign. Visit www.nursingworld.org/patientsafety/ to learn more about ANA's Effecting Positive Change in Patient Safety/Advocacy campaign.