Nurses competence in the reporting of medication-related incidents: An intervention study.

OBJECTIVES: Less than 5% of all harmful medicine-related incidents (MIs) or adverse drug reactions received by the Spanish Pharmacovigilance system are notified by Registered Nurses (RNs). The main objective of this study was to determine the impact of a multifaceted institutional intervention (MII) in patient safety on the reporting competence of medication incidents of hospital RNs. DESIGN: One-group pre-test-posttest design. SETTING: Tertiary, public, teaching hospital in Spain. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 139 RNs responded to pre- and postintervention questionnaires constituting the paired sample subjected to analysis. INTERVENTION: A MII, consisting of educational activities and materials, change in MI reporting form from paper to electronic and appointment of reporting support services, was designed and directed to all hospital RNs and midwifes. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Overall MIs reporting competence (OC) and its dimensions (attitudes, knowledge and skills) were measured through a synthetic variable (total OC value range: 34-170 points) by means of an electronic questionnaire. RESULTS: A statistically significant 7.96-point increase in OC from baseline to the final measurement was obtained (CI: 5.05-10.85). There was an increase of 7.38 points in the skills dimension (CI: 5.06-9.68). After the MII, 73.4% nurses improved their OC and 33.8% reported at least one no-harm MI postintervention compared to 4.4% pre-intervention (p < .001). A one-point increase in OC improved the probability of becoming reporter by 2.9% and a one-point increase in skills by 6.4%. CONCLUSION: MIs reporting competence among RNs increased after a multifaceted institutional intervention, due to an improvement in the skills dimension. The MII was also effective in raising both, the rate of RNs who become reporters and the number of no-harm MIs reported.

[Nursing care for hospitalized patients in COVID-19 units]. / Cuidados enfermeros en el paciente adulto ingresado en unidades de hospitalización por COVID-19.

Since the SARS-CoV-2 was announced on March 11 in 2020, most of people, professional healthcare, scientists, technical personnel and managers included, have been developing protocols, procedures, guides, technical reports to orient an adequate attention in this health emergency due to the COVID-19. The shortage bibliography about nursing care in this pandemic is the reason to develop a useful clinical protocol to attend to the higher number of adult patients who were admitted at Hospitalization Units adapted to patient with COVID-19. For that reason, the aim of this document is to provide recommendations to the clinical practice and that way, helping to protocolize the care in adult patients admitted in COVID-19 Hospitalization Units, based in standards of the literature or the most current experience in front of this new pandemic.

Design and validation of a questionnaire on nursing competence in the notification of medication incidents. / Diseño y validación de un cuestionario sobre competencia enfermera en la notificación de incidentes por medicamentos.

AIM: To design and perform a face and content validation of a questionnaire to measure the competence of hospital RN to report medication incidents. METHODS: Content and face questionnaire validation descriptive study. A review of the literature was performed for the creation of ítems. A panel of six experts assessed the relevance of the inclusion of each ítem in the questionnaire by calculating the position index; ítems with position index >0.70 were selected. The questionnaire was piloted by 59 RN. Finally, a meeting was convened with experts, in order to reduce the length of the piloted questionnaire through review, discussion and decision by consensus on each item. RESULTS: From the literature review, a battery of 151 ítems grouped into three elements of competence: attitudes, knowledge and skills was created. 52.9% (n=80) of the ítems received a position index > 0.70. The response rate in the pilot study was 40.65%. The median time to complete the questionnaire was 23:35minutes. After reduction by the experts, the final questionnaire comprised 45 ítems grouped into 32 questions. CONCLUSIONS: The NORMA questionnaire, designed to explore the competence of hospital RN to report medication incidents, has adequate face and content validity and is easy to administer, enabling its institutional implementation.

Quality management, a directive approach to patient safety. / Gestión de la calidad, un enfoque directivo para la seguridad del paciente.

Nowadays the implementation of effective quality management systems and external evaluation in healthcare is a necessity to ensure not only transparency in activities related to health but also access to health and patient safety. The key to correctly implementing a quality management system is support from the managers of health facilities, since it is managers who design and communicate to health professionals the strategies of action involved in quality management systems. This article focuses on nursing managers' approach to quality management through the implementation of cycles of continuous improvement, participation of improvement groups, monitoring systems and external evaluation quality models (EFQM, ISO). The implementation of a quality management system will enable preventable adverse effects to be minimized or eliminated, and promote patient safety and safe practice by health professionals.