National Patient Safety Goals (NPSGs) are critical in ensuring that healthcare providers offer quality care to their patients while minimizing potential risks of adverse events or injuries. The Joint Commission has established these goals as a tool to help healthcare providers identify opportunities to improve patient safety and reduce the risk of harm. As a nursing student, I have been learning about the NPSGs, and I have found them to be an essential guide to help me navigate my responsibilities in caring for patients. In this essay, I will discuss the NPSGs and give specific examples of how each goal relates to my experience this semester. The first NPSG is to improve the accuracy of patient identification. The goal aims to ensure that patients are correctly identified using at least two patient identifiers before administering medication or performing a procedure. In my experience, I have seen how important it is to accurately identify patients. I had a patient who had a similar name to another patient on the unit. I was preparing to administer medication, and I almost gave the medication to the wrong patient. However, I remembered the importance of verifying the patient's identity using at least two patient identifiers, and I was able to prevent a potential medication error. …show more content…
Effective communication is crucial in ensuring that patient care is coordinated and safe. This semester, I witnessed an incident where a patient's medication was missed because the communication between the physician and the nurse was unclear. The nurse assumed that the physician had ordered the medication, but the physician thought the nurse had already given it. This resulted in the patient not receiving the medication on time, which could have led to complications. This experience reinforced the importance of clear and effective communication among healthcare