NURS 6051S week 4 Assignment: The Impact of Nursing Informatics on Patient Outcomes and Patient Care Efficiencies Project Proposal: Decreasing Interruptions in Medication Administration

The proposed project seeks to decrease interruptions in medication administration by applying a bottom-up approach. The problem addressed by the project is the concern that interruptions during medication administration lead to a significant proportion of medication errors. Despite the best efforts to safely manage medication administration, mistakes occur within the health care setting (Mortaro et al., 2019). In fact, about 7,000 patients die every year from preventable medication errors. Although there is limited research on this subject, evidence suggests that reducing interruptions would reduce medication errors. In addition, it is noted that medication administration is a routine activity with a skill-based and repetitive nature thereby increasing the risk of distractions (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2020). To address this concern, the project will apply a pre-and post-intervention observational study approach that is based on direct observation. The intervention will involve adequately training nurses on the risks related to interruptions during medication administration. The bottom-up approach is expected to tailor the intervention and concurrently act as the training instrument tool (Snipes, 2016). During the project, the participating nurses will be observed for total medication dispensing rounds reported for the pre-intervention and post-intervention periods. Observations will note the raw number of interruptions per patient rate during drug rounds with the expectation that the project will result in reduced interruption rates during medication administration (Harris et al., 2016).

Identify the stakeholders impacted by this project.

The project is focused on addressing medication safety. Five stakeholders have been identified as impacted by this project. Firstly, patients/consumers whose lives are risked when medication errors occur. They have become more informed and are no longer passive about their healthcare. Patients are now active customers who ask questions about their medication and are not intimidated by the disposition of medication personal. They should be informed about the project since it has implications for their health care outcomes. Secondly, academia would be interested in the project. The results of the project can be weaved into current medication safety concepts throughout the curriculum thus ensuring that medical personnel is able to develop the critical thinking skills required to manage medication administration safety (Zaccagnini & White, 2017). Thirdly, external health care stakeholders who include licensing, accrediting and regulatory bodies who would use the project results to develop safety standards. Also, the project results would be useful for providing oversight and ensuring that medical organizations fully implement medication administration safety standards. Fourthly, health care organizations, and leaders who would need to incorporate the concepts presented in the project into their patient safety goals and mission statement while upholding practice issues. Their affirmation that patient safety is a significant concern should be accompanied by genuine commitment and action to safe medication administration. The leaders would be interested in transforming the project results into practice standards and protocols then communicating them to all levels of the organization. Finally, medical practitioners would be interested in the project as it presents them with current information bout patient safety. Also, the information allows them to maintain competencies and make necessary changes in practice to improve patient safety (Zaccagnini & White, 2017).