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BACKGROUND: Studies showed that adverse events within health care settings can lead to two victims. The first victim is the patient and family and the second victim is the involved healthcare professionals. However, there is a lack of research studying the experiences of healthcare professionals encountering clinical incidents in Hong Kong. This paper reports a qualitative study in exploring the healthcare professional experiences of clinical incident, their impacts and needs. METHODS: This study is the second part of the mixed research method with two studies conducted in a cluster of hospitals in Hong Kong. Study 1 was a quantitative questionnaire survey and Study 2 was a qualitative In-Depth Interview. In study 2, a semi-interview guide was used. RESULTS: Results showed that symptoms experienced after the clinical incident were mostly from psychological, physical, then social and lastly spiritual aspects which were consistent with those found in study 1 and other studies. Using content analysis for analyzing the impacts, four themes were identified. Concerning the impacts immediately from the clinical incident, two themes emerged were 1) facing emotion distress and 2) maintaining rationality. Regarding the impacts after the clinical incident, another two themes were 3) managing further emotional distress 4) restoring personal wellness. With regard to the needs after clinical incidents, three themes emerged were 1) self-recovery; 2) senior good mentoring and 3) positive organization climate with emphasis on enhancement of training and development of a positive practice culture. CONCLUSION: Great impacts are found with healthcare professionals encountering clinical incidents from a holistic perspective. They need time for self-recovery with support from good supervisors, peers and a caring environment. Some recommendations based on the findings of the study are made.
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BACKGROUND: With the aim to enhance the senior nursing managers to be caring leaders so that they can nurture their team members to be holistic care providers, a one year program has been developed with emphasis on self-reflection and self-cultivation. PURPOSE: It aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a one-year leadership enhancement program in an acute general hospital. DESIGN & METHODS: Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were adopted. A pre and post questionnaire survey and the content analysis of self-reflective essays were conducted. RESULTS: The overall means of the servant leadership scale and the workplace wellness scale were significantly higher after the program. Both scales were also found to have a significantly medium level of positive correlation. Reflective essays showed positive feedbacks complementing the quantitative data that the program was well received and effective. CONCLUSION: A servant leadership approach may be one way for hospital management to enhance a caring environment and a more quality workforce.
RESUMO
Medication error is the most common and consistent type of error occurring in hospitals. This article attempts to explore the ethical issues relating to the nursing management of medication errors in clinical areas in Macau, China. A qualitative approach was adopted. Seven registered nurses who were involved in medication errors were recruited for in-depth interviews. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed using content analysis. Regarding the management of patients, the nurses acknowledged the mistakes but did not disclose the incidents to patients and relatives. Concerning management of the nurses involved by senior staff, most participants experienced fairness, comfort and understanding during the process of reporting and investigation. The ethical issues relating to the incidents were discussed, particularly in the Chinese context. There is a need for further study relating to the disclosure of medication incidents to patients and some suggestions were made.
