First Advisor

Dr. Lora Claywell

College

Rueckert-Hartman College for Health Professions

Degree Name

Doctor of Nursing Practice

Document Type

Dissertation - Restricted Campus Access

Number of Pages

52 pages

Abstract

In the inpatient pediatric acute care department safety checks are an element of handoff between clinical nurses. Clinical nurses were completing safety checks from memory and missing key elements of the checks. The purpose of this quality improvement project was to decrease patient harm related to emergency medical equipment, emergency medication sheets, and patient identification bracelets at all patients’ bedsides as outlined on the safety checklist. The goal of this project was to create intentional safety checks with the use of a safety checklist at each shift change to ensure necessary emergency equipment, emergency medication sheets, and patient identification are at the patient’s bedside in the event of an emergency. A total of 62 clinical nurses participated in the pre-implementation of the safety checklist observational safety check audits. A total of 58 clinical nurses participated in the post-implementation of the safety checklist observational safety check audits. Descriptive observational statistics were used to describe and summarize the data to create understanding. The frequency and percentages for the pre- and post-observational audits were completed. The pre- and post-observational data was compared using Wilcoxon signed ranks statistical test. Kendall’s tau test was completed to demonstrate correlations between components or elements of the safety checklist. The observational audit results demonstrated three variables which were statistically significant after the implementation of the safety checklist patient identification, emergency medication sheet, and respiratory equipment settings. The implementation of the safety checklist demonstrated improvement in all variables apart from equipment. Phase two of the project will be to implement the safety checklist throughout the inpatient acute and intensive care areas within the organization.

Date of Award

Spring 2023

Location (Creation)

Colorado (state); Denver (county); Denver (inhabited place)

Rights Statement

All content in this Collection is owned by and subject to the exclusive control of Regis University and the authors of the materials. It is available only for research purposes and may not be used in violation of copyright laws or for unlawful purposes. The materials may not be downloaded in whole or in part without permission of the copyright holder or as otherwise authorized in the “fair use” standards of the U.S. copyright laws and regulations.

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