Quality in Health Care Week 6 Seips

1 Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety (SEIPS) 2 System Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety (SEIPS) Medical error may account for as many as 251,000 deaths annually in the U.S making it the third leading cause of death (Anderson. & Abrahamson, 2017). Medical error can be caused by human error, and it affects every aspect in healthcare. The System Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety (SEIPS) was developed as a quality improvement tool that helps healthcare professionals comprehend the components that may threaten patient safety and to help medical facilities improve quality outcomes by reducing risk. In this essay we will discuss about the seven types of error in healthcare, SEIPS tool usage in healthcare and other error-reducing strategies, positive effects of SEIPS on the reduction of error, and the relationship between CQI and SEIPS. Seven Types of Error Skill-based, rule-based, knowledge-based, human error, planning and execution error, decision error, and perceptual errors are seven types of errors. For starters, skill-based errors are known as “slips and lapses”, when the action made is not what was intended (Johnson & Sollecito, 2020. P. 398). An example would be if a nurse administers the incorrect medication by getting the wrong syringe. Next, rule-based errors are actions that match the intentions but don’t achieve the intended outcomes due to incorrect application of a rule or inadequacy of the plan” (Johnson & Sollecito, 2020. P.398). An example of rule-based error would be when a nurse administers incorrectly because they did not follow the procedures for administering for highrisk drugs such as insulin. Then there is knowledge-based error which means actions which are intended but do not achieve the intended outcome due to knowledge deficits. An example of knowledge-based error is giving a patient a medication to treat a specific condition without knowing that the patient has another health condition taking medications and the patient has bad 3 reaction to the medication leading to injury or death. Human error is common and may seem impossible to prevent. Human error is when you make a mistake because you are distracted or possibly rushing. Human error in healthcare can cause injury to a patient but it was not intentional it does not only occur in the clinical setting, but it also occurs in the administrative setting. All types of errors are significant because it can be used to study for future references and to help create rules and procedures to help reduce the rate of the error reoccurring. For instance, using tools such as the Swiss cheese model to help describe four levels of active failures may occur during complex operations (Johnson & Sollecito, 2020. P. 400). Lastly, monitoring and engaging in patient safety, training, and having regulations for employees to follow to reduce medical errors. SEIPS and how it works System Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety (SEIPS) is a framework that helps breakdown errors that occurred in the healthcare facility, and it also displays how the accident occurred by showing employee interactions to equipment that was used. (Johnson & Sollecito, 2020). The SEIPS framework has been used in multiple healthcare settings and it has demonstrated effectiveness for understanding errors and incident causation. On the other hand, SEIPS has also helped by creating a plan for safety and improvements in healthcare. SEIPS is just one tool of many others that help reduce errors. An example would be the six sigma tools to help reduce and sustain improvements caused by medical errors. Positive effects of SEIPS SEIPS models have a positive effect in healthcare because it helps understand the root of a problem and reduces risk of errors. SEIPS helps reduce errors it also helps improve patient 4 safety while under the care of healthcare professionals. Because patient safety is the priority for medical providers, they need to keep SEIPS model in mind to give them the knowledge and skills to help reduce the risk of them making any mistakes. SEIPS assists and provides with data of previous errors and how it happened giving medical professionals the answers on how to prevent an error if they are in a similar situation or at risk of error. CQI & SEIPS CQI and SEIPS both help to produce improved outcomes and reduce the rate of errors caused in healthcare. CQI tools are for understanding the variations and knowing when process improvements are needed (Johnson & Sollecito, 2020. P. 178). CQI consists of many tools such as cause-and-effect diagrams, FMEA, flow charts and much more. The CQI tools are only beneficial when used appropriately when they are applied correctly and there is knowledge of variations because there may be unsuccessful outcomes instead of improvements. While both CQI and SEIPS are patient centric focused they have different forms of improving and promoting concerns. CQI improves quality through various forms of tools to find solutions and SEIPS displays how the errors occurred. These two models can help improve the quality of patient safety and ensuring that patient outcome increase by reducing medical error. Conclusion In healthcare it is crucial to understand and know medical errors and how they can be prevented because it helps reduce the number of errors. SEIPS is a great form of breaking down errors and finding the reason and who caused the error. There are seven types of medical errors which are all preventable. All errors are categorized, and you can find forms of improvements through CQI tools and SEIPS. Errors are bound to happen to anyone despite educational background, but there are great set of tools to improve and reduce the amount of errors.