Introduction: Medical Errors During Immunization
The first concept to be addressed in this presentation is immunization, which is one of the most important sections of vaccinology. It is a system of measures regulating the mass use of vaccines in order to create post-vaccination immunity in the population. It is the most affordable, cost-effective way to reduce morbidity and mortality from many infections and ultimately improves the quality and duration of human life. The second concept is a medical error, denoting the wrong act of a nurse in professional activity in the absence of guilt. The basis of a medical error is most often ignorance or the inability to use existing knowledge in practice.
This presentation consists of an introduction, a conclusion summarizing the findings, and six main sections. The Evidence-Based Projects section substantiates the importance of proper vaccination of the population for the formation of collective immunity. This is followed by the Conceptual Model section, which provides a brief description of The John Hopkins Model and the rationale for using this particular model in this work. The Immunization section presents well-known research areas on this topic, as well as the importance of the direction of modern medicine. In the Issue and Recommendation for Change section, a real problem from clinical practice is announced, and a solution for the existing issue is proposed. Internal and external factors that are important are described in the Factors Influencing Change section. The penultimate slide shows NONPF Competencies that are related to this study. The following is a conclusion summarizing the results and a list of literature used in the course of the work.
Evidence-Based Projects
The participation of nurses in evidence-based projects is an opportunity to learn more about scientific work and use its results more effectively in practical activities. It is known that the best results are achieved by research groups, which include nurses who possess research and practical skills (Loversidge et al., 2016). The emergence of evidence-based projects is a reflection of the growing interest of institutions in nursing research and improving the professional literacy of practicing nurses. Evidence-based projects are also useful for the nursing community as a whole. Therefore, by participating in research, nurses help colleagues stay up to date with what is happening in their field of activity and develop new practical skills, which improves the quality of healthcare in general.
Conceptual Model
This study is based on The John Hopkins Model (PET), which has three components: practice question, evidence, and translation. First of all, according to the model, the practical problem that needs to be solved is determined (Johns Hopkins Medicine, n.d.). That step is followed by the selection and evaluation of factual material; scientific articles containing reliable, accurate, and objective facts should be used. The last stage in the Johns Hopkins model is the generalization and presentation of basic and additional information in a form convenient for analyzing and making conclusions.
The successful conduct of the author’s scientific research is largely facilitated by the correct, well-thought-out, and consistent organization of the research work and its planning and staging. Using The John Hopkins Model, this study was successfully organized. First, the practical question “How to reduce the number of medical errors during immunization?” was raised during clinical practice. Next, scientific journals were selected, suggesting possible causes of this problem and the organization of measures to avoid it. Then work was carried out on the analysis and synthesis of the obtained data, that is, their translation.
Immunization
My chosen area of interest is immunization, which is the introduction of immunobiological medical drugs into the human body to create specific immunity to infectious diseases. At the moment, the classification of vaccines by composition is known. In addition, ways of immunization have been studied: intramuscular is the most common one; there are also oral, intradermal, and subcutaneous ways. The importance of introducing vaccines at a certain interval or at a certain age has also been proven, and this statement is true for vaccines of any component composition and the way of immunization required.
The area of interest is important for the practice of NP because immunization helps to reduce the number of sick people, as well as to reduce the severity of the disease, prevent the development of complications and reduce the risk of death. It makes it possible to prevent 2 to 3 million deaths of people worldwide from infectious diseases every year (Alici et al., 2017). However, the effectiveness of immunization is only observed if the vaccination schedule is followed or the correct vaccination interval with several components is observed.
Issue and Recommendation for Change
Failure to comply with time indications during immunization and violation of intervals during the administration of multicomponent vaccines often leads to the fact that patients, including those with health disorders, are defenseless against infectious diseases. At the same time, the maximum incidence falls on children aged 0 to 2 years (Noni et al., 2018). With the improper organization of immunization, they fall into a high-risk group for the incidence of whooping cough, measles, mumps, and chickenpox. As a result, poor-quality immunization due to a medical error is one of the reasons for a weakly pronounced trend in the incidence of infectious diseases.
Effective counteraction to medical errors in the field of immunization can be provided primarily by educational programs in the field of immunoprophylaxis. They should be regularly conducted not only for nurses but also for parents. The key points, in this case, are informing parents about diseases from which a child can be protected with vaccination, the existence of a vaccination schedule, and the importance of its observance. It is necessary to organize the training of medical workers on the issues of vaccination of the population. It includes monthly educational seminars for medical professionals and administrators in the territories of the states. An important step is to intensify information and educational work among the population, including through the mass media or training on the popularization of immunoprophylaxis. Particular attention should be paid to compliance with the vaccination schedule and the interval between the components of the vaccine.
The introduction of educational programs will lead to the improvement of the information and analytical base of epidemiological surveillance of infections controlled by means of specific prevention. In addition, high-quality training for personnel who do not have a specialization in the field of immunization will be carried out on the issues of immunoprophylaxis of infectious diseases (Noni et al., 2018). Also, the creation of educational programs will help to strengthen the health of the population, extending to the socially significant consequences of the incorrect procedure for the immunoprophylaxis of infectious diseases.
Factors Influencing Change
As a result of studying the experience of implementing other educational programs, the administration of a medical institution should choose a new management system for the organization of immunization informatization. For example, strategic management can become effective since it is the most appropriate management model in the current situation. Previously, it was necessary to predict the desired activity of the institution and plan the management of educational programs in such a way that all available resources contribute to the sustainable development of informatization. It is the right choice of management tools that allow for building a continuous educational process. In the long term, the management strategy should take into account the need for a flexible response to changes in the external environment.
Also, the success of changes can be influenced by such a factor as the level and content of labor motivation of nursing staff. Motivation directs and stimulates the activity of employees in the hospital and regulates the commitment and effectiveness of participation in educational programs. It is important to work on increasing external motivation, which encourages employees to achieve organizational and educational goals. Moreover, it encourages people to perform their duties using coercion or instructions in order to get a reward in return. It is possible to strengthen the motivation of employees by offering them bonuses or benefits for participating in seminars. Thus, it will be possible to reduce the number of skipping educational programs due to illness or vacation since the motivation of nurses will be high.
External factors that could impact the ability to implement the recommended change are primarily related to the need for financing. To finance the educational program on immunization, it will be necessary to attract external sources of funding. This may be the state budget, sponsorship funds, voluntary contributions, or other cash receipts. The effectiveness of the organization of events depends on the number of budgetary funds allocated to a healthcare institution based on established standards. It is possible to organize voluntary contributions from state-owned enterprises and public organizations, charitable and other public foundations, and individual citizens (including funds from guardians).
The next external factor influencing the success of the implementation of changes is the consciousness of the population. Along with medicine, the culture of self-preservation has become an important means for modern man to protect health (Robinson et al., 2019). The success of the educational program on the informatization of immunization depends on its level. The level at which the population places health in the personal structure of life values depends on the activity in relation to attending educational events. Social norms regarding health also determine the attitude and level of awareness of parents regarding the immunization of children. The attendance and active participation of citizens in a set of measures aimed at improving health depend on this factor.
NONPF Competencies
Successful implementation of changes is impossible without management, that is, a systematic process of using resources to achieve certain goals. The art of management in the medical field is, first of all, the ability to effectively organize the activities of staff, and it requires leadership qualities. Professionalism in the activities of the head of educational programs on immunization is the key to success not only in raising awareness of nurses but also of the entire population as a whole. Therefore, leadership competence was actively applied in the performance of this work, namely, assuming complex and advanced leadership roles to initiate and guide change. For effective change management, sufficient development of leadership qualities and organizational and communicative inclinations is necessary.
The next competence required for the successful implementation of this project was scientific foundation competence. In the process of finding out the causes of medical errors in the immunization of the population and the development of changes, it was necessary to turn to knowledge from the field of sociology. Integrating knowledge from the humanities within the context of nursing science allowed us to identify ways to increase nurses’ motivation to participate in educational projects (Thomas et al., 2017). Among the relevant areas of sociology used in the course of the study and used for the introduction of changes, new practices in relation to health among the population and the transformation of the value of health in society can be distinguished. Their study made it possible to realize the need to develop new approaches to comprehend the solution to the problem of medical errors in the field of immunization.
Conclusion
Immunization is an effective way to form anti-infectious immunity only if the vaccination schedule and the interval between the introduction of vaccine components are observed. As a result of non-compliance with these conditions by nurses, the problem of low effectiveness of immunization often arises. To combat this problem, it is proposed to introduce changes related to increasing the level of informatization about immunization both among staff and among the population. The success of the events depends on external factors, such as the level of consciousness of the population and funding. Internal factors also play an important role: the degree of motivation of nurses and the correctness of change management. In order for the changes to be effective, it is necessary to rely on sociological research when working with staff and patients, as well as to show leadership qualities when implementing changes.
References
Alici, D. E., Sayiner, A., & Unal, S. (2017). Barriers to adult immunization and solutions. Personalized Approaches, Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics, 13(1), 213-215. Web.
Johns Hopkins Medicine. (n.d.). John Hopkins nursing evidence-based practice model. Web.
Loversidge, J. M. (2016). An evidence-informed health policy model: Adapting evidence-based practice for nursing education and regulation. Journal of Nursing Regulation, 7(2), 27—33. Web.
Noni, E. M., Harmon, S., Dube, E., Steenbeek, A., Crowcroft, N., Opel, D. J., … Butler, R. (2018). Mandatory infant & childhood immunization: Rationales, issues and knowledge gaps. Vaccine, 36(39), 5811-5818. Web.
Robinson, C. L., Bernstein, H., Romero, J. R., & Szilagyi, P. (2019). Advisory committee on immunization practices recommended immunization schedule for children and adolescents aged 18 years or younger: United States, 2019. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 68(5), 112-114. Web.
Thomas, A., Crabtree, M. K., Delaney, K., Dumas, M. A., Kleinpell, R., Marfell, J., … Wolf, A. (2017). Nurse practitioner core competencies content. Web.