MSN discussion post

Respond to this discussion post and 2 references: The MSN Program Specialty Track Learning Outcome #3 for informatics is “demonstrate data management skills that target opportunities to improve patient safety” (American Sentinel University, 2017). This is an outcome that I have been able to demonstrate as I have progressed through the program. Despite technological advancements, medication errors are still a recurring cause of patient harm in hospitals (Kavanagh, 2017). As an assistant nurse manager, I utilized my newly obtained skills in data management and data analytics to track near miss medication safety events. These near miss events, although they did not actually cause patient harm, had a significant potential to cause harm, but they can also be used as learning and improvement opportunities to preventing future errors (Shams, 2017). The data I collected was categorized into the type of event (delay in administration, omission, wrong medication, wrong dose, etc.) and tracked by frequency over time. Feedback was then given to the responsible parties (e.g. pharmacy or individual nurse) to assist with making corrections to prevent future errors from happening. Over time, medication errors were reduced. One of the most challenging aspects I have encountered while writing the Executive Summary for my final project has been to identify what details should be in the summary or would be better left in the appendix. It was important to me to ensure the Executive Summary was understandable on its own, without the appendices. When presenting this project at my organization I anticipate encountering a few minor challenges and possibly a need to make some modifications, since I will likely also need to present it to non-nurses.