International journal for quality in health care : journal of the International Society for Quality in Health Care
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Int J Qual Health Care · Jun 2015
Attitudes towards vital signs monitoring in the detection of clinical deterioration: scale development and survey of ward nurses.
To develop and determine the psychometrics properties of an instrument (V-scale) and to explore nurses' attitudes towards vital signs monitoring in the detection of clinical deterioration in general wards. ⋯ This exploratory study provides evidence for the psychometric properties of the V-scale. It reveals a need for continuous professional development to improve ward nurses' attitudes towards vital signs monitoring. Vital signs monitoring needs to be prioritized in workload planning.
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Int J Qual Health Care · Jun 2015
What are hospital nurses' strengths and weaknesses in patient safety competence? Findings from three Korean hospitals.
To examine hospital nurses' patient safety competencies and the association between these competencies and safety climate. ⋯ Nurses' safety competency was rated as moderate. In particular, nurses lacked confidence in teamwork. Nurses with higher safety competency perceived safety climate more positively. Efforts emphasizing teamwork to enhance nurses' safety competency should be prioritized, thereby contributing to improvement of safety climates.
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Int J Qual Health Care · Apr 2015
Observation of handover process in an intensive care unit (ICU): barriers and quality improvement strategy.
To describe the characteristics and barriers in the handover process in a medical intensive care unit. ⋯ The findings provide information for improving the handover process during the transfer of patients in and out of the intensive care unit. Distractions during handovers are common and are associated with longer durations. Nurses and doctors rarely address DNR status during handover of ICU patients in this study.
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Int J Qual Health Care · Apr 2015
Joint influence of Patient-Assessed Chronic Illness Care and patient activation on glycaemic control in type 2 diabetes.
To examine the association of the Patient Assessment of Chronic Illness Care (PACIC) with glycaemic control and the modulating effect of patient activation on this association. ⋯ Better patient-assessed chronic care received consistently over time facilitates achievement of better glycaemic control in patients with low activation.
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Int J Qual Health Care · Feb 2015
Comparative StudyWhat are incident reports telling us? A comparative study at two Australian hospitals of medication errors identified at audit, detected by staff and reported to an incident system.
To (i) compare medication errors identified at audit and observation with medication incident reports; (ii) identify differences between two hospitals in incident report frequency and medication error rates; (iii) identify prescribing error detection rates by staff. ⋯ Prescribing errors with the potential to cause harm frequently go undetected. Reported incidents do not reflect the profile of medication errors which occur in hospitals or the underlying rates. This demonstrates the inaccuracy of using incident frequency to compare patient risk or quality performance within or across hospitals. New approaches including data mining of electronic clinical information systems are required to support more effective medication error detection and mitigation.