The Journal of perinatal & neonatal nursing
-
Patient safety is a worldwide priority aimed at preventing medical errors before they cause death, harm, or injury. Medical errors impact 1 in 10 patients worldwide (WHO), and their implications may include death, permanent, or temporary harm, financial loss, and psychosocial harm to the patient and in some cases to the caregiver. ⋯ In particular, the authors focus on strategies to improve the team process. Practice recommendations and research implications are presented.
-
The leadership team and clinicians in hospitals and healthcare system must focus on perinatal safety and quality to minimize risk of preventable harm to mothers and infants. A review of current issues in perinatal patient safety and quality is presented.
-
The current adversarial tort-based system of adjudicating malpractice claims is flawed. Alternate methods of compensation for birth injuries related to oxygen deprivation or mechanical injury are being utilized in Virginia and Florida. ⋯ Experts in the fields of law and public policy in the United States have evaluated a variety of approaches and have proposed models for administrative health courts that would provide both compensation and dispute resolution for medical and nursing malpractice claims. These alternative models are based on transparency and disclosure, with just compensation for injuries, and opportunities for improvements in patient safety.
-
J Perinat Neonatal Nurs · Jan 2011
Parent decision making for life support for extremely premature infants: from the prenatal through end-of-life period.
Most deaths of extremely premature infants occur in the perinatal period. Yet, little is known about how parents make life support decisions in such a short period of time. In the paper, how parents make life support decisions for extremely premature infants from the prenatal period through death from the perspectives of parents, nurses, and physicians is described. ⋯ All mothers received decision making help and support from partners and family, but relationships with providers were also important. Finally, external resources impacted parental decision making in several of the cases. By understanding what factors contribute to parents' decision making, providers may be better equipped to prepare and assist parents when making life support decisions for their extremely premature infants.