Wall of Silence-Reflective Journal

Assignment Instructions: For this course, you will be reading The Wall of Silence by Gibson and Singh (2003). Please read the book according to the schedule, reflect upon what you have read, and complete the assignment as described. The purpose of this reflective assignment is to provide the approach for connecting The Wall of Silence, the course content, and your personal and professional experiences. You will complete four reflective journal entries, one for each section of the book. Submit each entry by the due date no exceptions. All entries require the use of APA (see rubric). There is no length requirement for any of the entries however, to earn all potential points you must demonstrate that you a) have read the book and required readings, b) applied the course material as necessary as demonstrated through citing/referencing of course materials, and c) reflected on all related components. You should cite and reference the book and all other necessary materials as evidence of your understanding of course materials. Entry #1: Based upon Gibson and Singh Part 1: Breaking the Silence. Gibson and Singh provided alarming statistics based upon the IOM’s 1999 report of 100,000 deaths per year due to medical errors. According to Gibson and Singh, this translates to 275 deaths due to medical errors every day. Based on the number of deaths known, and considering the potential number for unaccounted deaths, reflect on the book and address the following: 1.Describe your level of awareness of the prevalence of medical errors before this course and reading part 1. 2.Part 1 of Gibson and Singh details 10 patient-family accounts and their experience with medical error. Select one of the cases and discuss the following areas: a.Provide an overview of the case. b.Describe in detail your feeling as you read the story and part 1 of the book. c.What type of error occurred in the case? d.What quality and safety initiatives discussed in our course could have prevented the error? e.Why was this case so compelling to you? 3.It is acceptable to use first person in this entry. Support your entry with quotations from the book as needed and with literature and sources from our course. Follow APA format. Entry #2: Based upon Gibson and Singh Part 2: Why do medical mistakes happen? Gibson and Singh provided a detailed overview of why medical mistakes happen and they provided rationales behind the culture of cover-up in the health care environment. The culture of cover-up is contradictory to our professional code of ethics. 1.Discuss our role as nurses in developing a culture of safety interdependent upon a professional code of ethics. 2.Why is it that nurses fail to report errors and what are the consequences to the nurse, patient, facility, and system? 3.How does the nursing shortage affect safety and the potential for errors in the health care system? 4.How frequent and how significant are medication errors in your experience? 5.Describe in detail your experiences in managing, correcting, and documenting medication errors and explain how they affect your practice? 6.Do you believe quality improvement is really needed? Explain. 7.Support your entry with quotations from the book as needed and with literature and sources from our course. Follow APA format. Entry #3: Based upon Gibson and Singh Part 3: Silent white line Gibson and Singh described potential methods of regulation and reporting to better inform patients and consumers about their health care providers. 1.Explain how patients and consumers find valid and reliable information about health care providers and facilities. 2.In your experience, do patients and consumers investigate their providers or facilities before making selections? What about you, your friends, and family? 3.How do quality improvement systems affect regulatory and accreditation reporting and reimbursement? 4.Support your entry with quotations from the book as needed and with literature and sources from our course. Follow APA format. Entry #4: Based upon Gibson and Singh Part 4: Courage to change the things we can 1.Gibson and Singh devoted an entire chapter to the use of technology making health care safer. Examine your own feelings about developing competency in nursing informatics: What issues come to mind when you reflect on the need for all nurses to use information and technology to communicate, manage knowledge, mitigate error, and support decision- making? How does technology support safety at your facility? Explain how health system safety and technology will influence your practice in the next 10 years. 2.Gibson and Singh compared the current health care system to less flawed, safer industries, like aviation. How do you feel about safety and quality in health care when compared to the aviation industry? Support your entry with quotations from the book as needed and with literature and sources from our course. Follow APA format. 3.Open Communication Letter: Overall, this course and associated materials should have enlightened you as to the depth and breadth of issues related to quality and safety in our health care system. You should also have a broader understanding of how the issues you experience at the bedside are related to the overall system. For your Open Communication Letter, refer to the case you described in journal entry one (part 1) or to a specific case that you have knowledge of. Reflecting on that specific case and what you have learned from this course and readings, write a letter to either the patient or family from the perspective of the health care professional who made, discovered, investigated, resolved, or prevented the error. Submit this letter as an Appendix to entry #4. The letter itself does not need to be in APA format; instead, use the format for a professional letter. Required books: Gibson, R., & Singh, J. P. (2003). Wall of Silence: The untold story of the medical mistakes that kill and injure millions of Americans. Washington, DC: Lifeline Press. Textbook: Cowen, P. S., & Moorhead, S. (2011). Current issues in nursing. (8th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Mosby.