The nurse manager notes that there has been a significant increase in the number of clients who have been given the wrong medication on the unit during the last 4 months

Question

The nurse manager uses nursing informatics to formulate rationale for why the problem is occurring. Which of the following questions should the nurse manager answer using nursing informatics? Select all that apply.
1. Was there a specific nurse who was involved in these incidents?
2. How many clients in the health care organization were given a wrong medication during the last month?
3. At what time of day did each of the incidents occur?
4. What is the average length of stay on the unit?
5. What was the nurse-to-client ratio during the shifts when the incidents occurred?

Answer 1

Answer: 1; 3; 5

Rationale:
• Was there a specific nurse who was involved in these incidents? The nurse manager will want to obtain data that might indicate whether there was a specific nurse who was involved in the situations. If there was someone who was involved in a significant number of these incidents, that person might need some further education regarding medication administration.
• How many clients in the health care organization were given a wrong medication during the last month? It would be more useful for the nurse to understand how his or her specific unit rate compared to those of other units. The nurse manager might learn more about the significance of these incidents if the nurse manager examines data gathered from the last 4 months.
• At what time of day did each of the incidents occur? This information will be helpful for the nurse manager to gather. It might be that there are associated stressors that are occurring on the unit during this time of the day that hinder the nurses' ability to correctly administer medications.
• What is the average length of stay on the unit? This information will not be as useful. The nurse manager is not requesting information about how the average length of stay has changed over the last 6 months, which might be more useful to determine whether client acuity levels are increasing.
• What was the nurse-to-client ratio during the shifts when the incidents occurred? This information will be helpful. If there is a specific ratio that is supposed to be followed on the unit and the nurse-to-client ratio decreased during these times when the incidents occurred, this could indicate that the nurses were caring for too many clients at one time.