Better Environments for Nurses Mean Fewer Medication Errors
On average, a hospital patient in the United States is subjected to at least one medication error per day. A study funded by the RWJF Interdisciplinary Nursing Quality Research Initiative (INQRI) and published in the Journal of Nursing Scholarship finds that nurses’ error interception practices are associated with lower rates of non-intercepted medication errors. These practices include determining the rationale for each ordered medication; requesting that physicians rewrite orders when improper abbreviations are used; and ensuring that patients and families are knowledgeable regarding medication regimens so they can question unexplained variances. Read the news release and learn more about INQRI’s work.
Nursing on the Human Capital Blog
The RWJF Human Capital Blog features nursing news and perspectives several times each week, as well as information on RWJF-supported programs and people. Read a post by Susan Hassmiller, RWJF’s senior adviser for nursing, on the important new consensus statement from community college and nursing leaders relating to nurse academic progression; and one by Nurse Faculty Scholars Tim Landers and Taura Barr that compares the skills associated with the rock-climbing practice of belaying with mentoring. See the new series on health professions education that features posts by several nurses, including Judith Halstead of the National League for Nursing, clinical educator Lindsey J. Cardwell of Centra Health in Virginia, and Joseph Potts, president of the National Student Nurses Association. See all the nursing posts here.
Read Past Issues of Sharing Nursing’s Knowledge
Read previous and archived issues of this newsletter, including stories on innovations in nurse education, nurses solving primary care challenges, and a profile of RWJF New Connections grantee Margo Brooks Carthon, who is researching ways to help nursing schools improve programs designed to recruit and retain underrepresented minority students. Visit the homepage for Sharing Nursing’s Knowledge.
Remember to visit www.rwjf.org/humancapital often for the latest news on nursing initiatives around the United States! And, for up-to-the-minute updates, follow RWJF Human Capital on Twitter. Go to http://twitter.com/rwjf_humancap and sign up!