Data table to illustrate underperforming clinical outcome in the ER care environment.

Data table to illustrate underperforming clinical outcome in the ER care environment.

Assessment – quantitative goals and change plan

The need for favorable care outcomes in the ER is understandable, particularly when it concerns diagnosis that acts as the foundation for all other treatment activities. This reason underscores the importance of ensuring that blood culture samples collected in the ER are not contaminated. To be more precise, contaminated blood samples are a source of concern since it affects the health of the patients and medical personnel (who come into contact with the contaminated samples), as well as negatively influence treatment outcomes by affecting diagnosis. Justifiably, medical personnel are to be blamed for the contamination. That is because they handle the blood samples right from collection to laboratory analysis and even results presentation (Buettner, 2013)Biophysical concepts for advanced nursing practice.

Usually, newly higher medical personnel are considered qualified to handle blood samples if their competence includes such activities. Despite being considered qualified to carry out such activities, their limited practical experience causes them to make mistakes when handling the samples. This mismatch occurs in the background of knowledge that medical practice would realize the best results if matched to tangible evidence. The implication is that hiring protocols must ensure that the newly hired medical personnel are familiarized with established operating procedures and even shadow the more experienced personnel before they can be allowed to handle blood samples independently. In addition, medical personnel should be routinely tested on their capacity to handle blood samples with minimal opportunities for contamination (Hunink et al., 2014)Biophysical concepts for advanced nursing practice.

These sentiments are echoed by Proehl et al. (2012) and Self et al. (2013) who mention that the competency of medical personnel should be routinely enhanced through education interventions targeting their operational deficiencies. The present change plan takes these sentiments into account when proposing that medical personnel operating in the ER should be monitored, motivated and encouraged to improve their capacity and knowledge concerning blood samples handling with the intention of reducing contamination incidences. To be more precise, the issue to be addressed by the change plan is the high incidence of blood samples contamination in the ER Biophysical concepts for advanced nursing practice.

Even as the change plan is presented, it acknowledges that the ER personnel includes different health professions (such as physicians and nurses). Given this awareness, the change plan would recruit participants from different health professions to represent the full complement of personnel who handle blood samples in the ER. That is because every person who handles blood has the potential for contaminating the samples. In addition, including an interprofessional team in the change plan’s implementation would present a platform for collecting evidence to facilitate evidence-practice intentions (Nelson, Batalden & Godfrey, 2011) Biophysical concepts for advanced nursing practice.

Studies carried out in the ER show that personnel hiring procedures are typically reliant on written evidence (certificates and work testimonials), rather than practical evidence, to show whether or not an individual is competent to handle set tasks. Al