Safety is a condition characterized by minimal risk of harm coupled with protection from potential harm. In health care, patient safety involves instituting mitigation measures to prevent potential adverse events. Unfortunately, the existence of potential adverse events is only recognized after such an event has occurred. Reporting an adverse event, therefore, is the first step towards developing mitigation measures. However, some nurses fear reporting adverse events, because they erroneously believe they will be penalized for the occurrence of such an event. I believe, reporting the occurrence of an adverse event should be rewarded, since it is the initial stage of preventing future events.
Quality is a measure of standard that establishes the degree of excellence. In health care, quality culture is related to the process and outcome of care. To enhance the quality of care, adverse events are analyzed in order to develop mitigation measures. Quality improvement is expected to be a
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I always remind my interdisciplinary team that incident reporting is a virtual every nurse should admire. In our team, we always start the day by discussing our previous day achievements and shortcomings. These shortcomings includes anything that compromises quality of care and patient safety. The philosophy we have adopted is that shortcomings are expected, but undesired and unintentional outcomes. We always strive to identify and analyze factors influence the concurrence of the shortcoming. After understanding the influencing factors, we always try to develop mitigation measures. If the implementation of such measures is beyond the scope of the team, I escalate them for my supervisor, who is always eager to take the necessary action. Although not a panacea, this approach has not only reduced the number of medical errors in my yard, but it has led to improvement of patient care and