Nursing Sensitive Indicators

Question A

It is important to note that having an understanding of nursing sensitive indicators would be very instrumental when it comes to assisting nurses to find out the underlying problem that can cause harm to the patient or lead to an unwanted outcome. In our case, one must be cognizant of the fact that the reddened area gave a clear indication that the patient in question was already at risk of contracting pressure ulcer. Appropriate actions such as repositioning the patient in a manner that relieves pressure in the affected area have the capacity of preventing further development of pressure ulcers or bed sores. An increase in the range of motions is likely to be realized leading to prevention of direct strain on the patient and minimize chances of having pressure ulcers upon release of the restraints.

Replacement of the restraints by the CAN with the daughter in the room was not necessary. Another important thing is that if the patient has a family that is likely to prevent them from getting off the bed, then it is not necessary to place restraints around them with family at their bedside. Other sensitive indicators in nursing include job satisfaction of the nurse, their skill level as well as staffing. When one is highly skilled in a particular area, it becomes easy to administer holistic medical attention due to the conversancy level that one has. This is instrumental in the administration of care to the patient, something that has proven to have a lasting positive impact to the patient.

Question B

Data relating to hospital prevalence pressure is very instrumental when it comes to the provision of quality medication to patients. Nurses have been reliant on data to monitor a patient’s progress and to know the best point of action in different circumstances. Pressure ulcers are very sensitive when it comes to treatment and provision of quality care. Nurses are therefore required to be very accurate when it comes to data collection from the patient’s condition and storage. All these will be used for reference when attending to the patient’s restraints. In addition to that, diet is also likely to change depending on the data analysis given based on the patient’s progress. In this case, data will make it easier to add data based on the patient’s treatment and treatment recommendations to the patient’s case history.

Some resources such as books and journals have been instrumental when it comes to putting nurses affront when dealing with pressure ulcers. It has been applauded for equipping nurses with crucial information about one’s skin and all those ailments that are likely to be contracted under various circumstances. In addition to that, nurses get to learn about skin conditions such as rashes, skin issues at the fingertip and pressure ulcers. Highly skilled nurses go through a regular process of thoroughly checking the patient’s skin condition and making recordings on a standard chart using particular numeric values. The chart has been designed in a manner that 1-2 is a representation of little, 0 to represent no threat, 2-4 to represent slight problem while 4-6 to represent a severe case (Justus, 2011). When all these are tabulated, it becomes easy to pinpoint the next cause of action in regards to one’s treatment. Lastly, thorough education must be availed to all healthcare workers with the aim of making them not be caught flat-footed when they come across new conditions. Symptoms of pressure ulcers are something that cannot be ignored whatsoever. This gives the person concerned a basis on which administration of medication can commence. In addition to that, knowledge on prevention of pressure ulcers also proves to be necessary as it helps in minimizing chances of having this condition in the first place. Lastly, it would be of much benefit to the institution to educate all employees on cultural awareness and different lifestyle patterns. Research has shown that an institution will well verse and educated employees are likely to achieve many feet when it comes to recovery of patients and administration of holistic medical care (Butts & Rich, 2015).

Question C

I have been privileged enough to work in a supervisory role and managing this situation would be dependent on my previous skills. As a supervisor, the first thing that is likely to strike my mind is the need for having adequate restraints. In addition to that, the main area of focus would be the need to have safety procedures in the hospital that would aid and fasten patient recovery process with a lot of consideration on the quality of service. The next thing that I would like to introduce is an alternative to restraints. This is based on the fact that research has shown that restraints have the capacity to cause a rapid deterioration of one’s physical conditions as a result of being kept in one place with minimal or no mobility. In addition to that, the need to find an alternative is also largely influenced by the fact that patients are also likely to suffer from mental deterioration as a result of having no actual interactions with various people. Another common factor of consideration, in this case, is that the elderly are very susceptible to some skin infections due to their immobility, something that is mostly influenced by old age (PAGE, 2014).

My leadership would ensure that nurses and caregivers are instructed to ensure that immobile persons are repositioned after an interval of every two hours and their skin conditions thoroughly checked. When it comes to the matter of diet allocated for patients, the best possible way of ensuring that there is a minimal error in service provision is by first ensuring that all staff is accustomed to the dietary allocations of the patients. To make this possible, there will be a normal orientation of a representative of all stakeholders involved from the nurse to the person in charge of the patient’s diet. With this, chances of having a mix up when patients are served are likely to be minimal. This has the capacity of increasing confidence that the patient has on their handlers, an emotional response that is deemed to be very necessary for a comprehensive recovery process.