Patient Safety
As a registered nurse, you are expected to be accountable for your own practice as per the standards and competencies defined by your licensing body (College).
Adverse events, near miss and critical incidents will be reported using the agency critical incident forms as well as to your faculty and preceptor.
Definitions
Adverse Event – any adverse outcome for a patient, including an injury or complication directly associated with the care or services provided to a patient (The Canadian Patient Safety Dictionary, 2003).
Critical Incident – an incident resulting in serious harm (loss of life, limb, or vital organ); there is a need for immediate investigation and response (The Canadian Patient Safety Dictionary, 2003).
Near Miss – an event that could have adverse consequences, but did not (Institute of Medicine, 2004).
The School of Nursing employs a systems approach to support a safe practice environment for patients, students, preceptors and faculty. We will work with you and the employer to ensure that a safe practice environment for learning is available. However, because patient safety is a priority, the faculty will support the preceptor if he/she determines that you do not have the knowledge, skill and judgment to implement a clinical decision tool or perform a procedure. Errors can occur even with the best of intentions.
Reporting an Incident
The School of Nursing has a goal of continual improvement to prevent errors whenever possible. Please implement the following processes for adverse events, near misses and critical incidents.
- Notify your preceptor and clinical faculty as soon as possible after an adverse event, critical incident or near miss occurs.
- After patient safety has been restored, complete the agency’s incident report and forward a copy to the faculty.
- The faculty will address patient safety concerns as per organizational policy