They're usually the result of systems failure that produces a long chain of small errors by a number of individuals or technologies involved in the patient's care. Because of this, blaming individual caregivers usually serves no purpose, and rarely helps us improve patient care. In order to protect our patients, we need to design safer systems that reduce the possibility that individual caregivers will be placed in situations that make errors likely. There's a wide range of issues, ranging from basic shortcomings in quality assurance systems to inadequate staffing and provider communication, that make health care settings more susceptible to medical errors than need be. Mr. President, I am proud to say that the nurses I represent are ready to work with our colleagues to meet this challenge and change the system to ensure that our patients receive the high quality care they expect and deserve.
Nurses know that patient safety programs make a difference.
Physician order entry systems improve medication safety by ensuring that prescriptions are automatically checked against patient records for potential drug allergies or interactions. Ensuring that IV solutions are mixed at the pharmacy rather than on patient floor and prepackaging medications in the exact doses necessary for patient use prevents patients receiving the wrong dose accidentally. Implementing computer systems that automatically alert doctors when patients have abnormal lab findings results in rapid response to changing situations. But we know, too, that implementing the programs that we can readily identify will not be enough. We must remedy the root causes of systemic processes and behaviors that lead to repeated errors and injury to our patients.