Quality Improvement Technologies Required To Reduce Risk and Increase Patient Safety

Quality Improvement Technologies Required To Reduce Risk and Increase Patient Safety

Healthcare technology can promote safety and efficiency improvements. Quality improvement (QI) technologies that enhance patient safety and prevent recurrence of blood administration errors include barcode technology and a bedside blood-tracking system. The bedside blood-tracking system uses handheld computers in the form of a personal digital assistant (PDA) (Hensley et al., 2019). The organization introduced the blood-tracking system as a safety measure to lower the risk of incompatible blood transfusions. It uses the PDA to scan the barcodes on a patient‘s wristband, the transfusion tag provided by the transfusion laboratory, and on the blood bag (Hensley et al., 2019). This ensures that the health provider positively identifies the patient. Health providers are also expected to identify themselves on the blood-tracking system by scanning barcodes on their staff identity badges.

The technologies are appropriate in preventing administration errors in patients receiving a blood transfusion. The barcode technology and PDAs increase blood administration safety by providing real-time patient information, transfusion profiles, laboratory values, and documentation, thus reducing errors (Hensley et al., 2019). Technology such as Bar-coding and handheld computers can be integrated into healthcare facilities to reduce the potential for transfusion errors and remove the need for two nurses to be involved in the blood checking procedure. Facilities can use single patient wristbands containing patient medical profiles, including allergies, thus minimizing potential incidents. The wristband can meet the positive patient identification requirements required in transfusion protocols, thus reducing risk and improving the safety of patients on transfusion (Hensley et al., 2019). Health facilities need to identify the bare minimum dataset for positive patient identification, which will be the basis for all clinical information systems. The dataset can be captured in two barcodes, having all the information needed to meet current and future conditions for secure patient identification (Hensley et al., 2019). The technologies can be evaluated by comparing the incidence of blood transfusion events caused by errors in patient identification before and after implementation.

Relevant Metrics of the Near-Miss Incident

Data from the facility’s dashboard reveal an average of three reported transfusion errors annually. The incident has significantly reduced from seven transfusion errors five years ago. One of the transfusion errors resulted in a lawsuit against the hospital, costing the organization $170000 as compensation to the patient. Transfusion errors are associated with prolonged patient stay and high healthcare costs. The metrics prove the need for the organization to improve the safety of patient care and eliminate the incidence of transfusion errors (Lancaster et al., 2021). The dashboard data is reliable since health providers are required to report every transfusion error, whether it results in an allergic reaction or not. About 21 million blood components are transfused in the U.S annually.1 The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is mandated to regulate the collection of blood donations and transfusion of blood components. According to the FDA, an average of 414 transfusion errors occur in the U.S. annually, which equates to one per 38,000 transfusions.

Quality Improvement Initiative to Prevent the Adverse Event or Near Miss

The facility now manages the blood transfusion process by ensuring positive patient identification, excellent communication, and documentation at every step of the blood administration process. The facility has adopted electronic transfusion management systems and barcode technology to enhance patient identification, communication, and documentation. Other institutions address the issue by mandating authorized documentation with minimum patient identifiers that must be verified against the label on the blood component (Lancaster et al., 2021). In addition, they provide the staff with hard copies of procedures for the infusion of blood products. They have created visual reminders in the inpatient units to remind the nurses of the blood transfusion procedures.

A barcode-based transfusion management (BCTM) system is a QI initiative established to prevent transfusion errors. It uses barcodes for identifying patients, onsite labeling, and verification of blood products via a wireless connection to the hospital information system (Hensley et al., 2019). The BTCM system is effective in reducing transfusion errors. Chou et al. (2019) found that BTCM lowered and sustained the near-miss rate to less than three incidents per quarter. The incidence of near-miss events reduced and stabilized at 0-1 per quarter for eight successive quarters from 2016 to 2017. Staff training programs can