Este trabalho foi realizado no período de 06 de abril de 2004 a 21 de julho de 2004, com o objetivo de descrever a estrutura e funcionamento do sistema informatizado para controle da dispensação de medicamentos na Divisão de Assistência Farmacêutica do Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto da Universidade de São Paulo, bem como avaliar os resultados obtidos com a sua implantação em relação aos serviços de enfermagem e farmacêutico. Foi aplicado um formulário padronizado a 58 enfermeiros, 10 farmacêuticos e 15 auxiliares de farmacêutico que participaram da fase de estruturação, para avaliar a sua opinião quanto aos aspectos relativos à requisição de medicamentos, à forma de apresentação dos medicamentos dispensados pela farmácia hospitalar e à operacionalização do sistema. Como resultados observou-se que para estes profissionais, as principais vantagens obtidas foram: a eliminação da transcrição manual para requisição do medicamento prescrito, a rapidez, a melhor identificação das doses prescritas pelo médico, a embalagem dos medicamentos contendo toda a identificação necessária e a conferência do medicamento requisitado e dispensado através da leitura óptica do código de barras. Os resultados deste estudo permitiram-nos concluir que a grande maioria dos entrevistados considerou o sistema informatizado de dispensação de medicamentos de boa qualidade. A análise dos dados aqui descritos, embora possa não englobar algumas dimensões importantes na busca de uma terapia medicamentosa mais racional, forneceu subsídios que podem contribuir para a expansão e o aperfeiçoamento do sistema, visando dar suporte à realização de estudos de utilização de medicamentos e proporcionar novas perspectivas de trabalho e produtividade. / The present study was conducted from April 6 to July 21, 2004 with the objective of describing the structure and functioning of the informatized system for the control of the delivery of medications at the Division of Pharmaceutical Assistance of the University Hospital, Faculty of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, and to assess the results obtained with its implantation regarding the nursing and pharmaceutical services. A standardized form was distributed to 58 nurses, 10 pharmacists and 15 pharmacist assistants who participated in the structuring phase in order to obtain their opinion regarding the requisition of medications, the form of presentation of the medications distributed by the hospital pharmacy, and the operationalization of the system. As a result, we observed that according to these professionals, the major advantages of the system are: the elimination of manual transcription for the requisition of the prescribed medication, the rapidity, the better identification of the doses prescribed by the doctors, the packaging of the medications containing all the necessary identification, and the verification of the requisitioned and distributed medication by optic reading of the bar code. The data collected in this study permitted us to conclude that most of the persons interviewed consider the system of distribution of medications to be of good quality. Analysis of the data reported here, although it may not involve some important dimensions for the search of a more rational medicamentous treatment, provides information that might contribute to the expansion and refining of the system, also providing support for the execution of studies on the use of medications and opening new perspectives of work and productivity.

O processo de administração de medicamentos é considerado um processo complexo, crítico e de alto risco para os pacientes e tem apresentado altas taxas de ocorrência de eventos adversos que poderiam ser evitados. Este estudo teve o objetivo de analisar os riscos potenciais do processo de administração de medicamentos antiinfecciosos por via intravenosa de uma unidade de internação, visando a prevenir e a reduzir eventos adversos com medicamentos. A investigação, de natureza exploratória, foi realizada na unidade de Clínica Médica de um Hospital do Estado de Goiás, utilizando o Método de Análise do Modo e Efeito da Falha. Participaram do estudo, além da pesquisadora, seis profissionais envolvidos na terapêutica medicamentosa: médico, enfermeiro, técnico de enfermagem, farmacêutico e os gerentes de Enfermagem e de risco. Foram realizadas 24 reuniões, no período de 19 de fevereiro a 3 de julho de 2008, totalizando 56 horas. Todas os dados foram transcritos e armazenados em um banco eletrônico no programa Microsoft Excel® e analisados no software XFMEA 4. Os resultados indicaram que o processo de administração de medicamentos possui quatro microprocessos, dez atividades e 22 funções. No processo foram identificados 52 modos potenciais da falha (MPF), sendo que as maiores freqüências estiveram nas atividades de administração de medicamentos (16; 30,8%), preparo de medicamentos (12; 23,1%), aprazamento de medicamentos (5; 9,6%) e transcrição de medicamentos para etiquetas (5; 9,6%). Também foram identificados 79 efeitos potencias da falha (EPF), com as maiores freqüências nas atividades: administração de medicamentos (24; 30,4%), preparo de medicamentos (15; 19%) e transcrição de medicamentos para etiquetas (12; 15,2%). Dos EPF, 36,2% foram considerados de gravidade média; 28,7% de moderada, e 27,5% de alta. Em 80% das atividades, foram identificados efeitos de alta gravidade. A classificação dos efeitos apontou que os tipos mais freqüentes foram os erros de: técnica (21; 26,6%), omissão (20; 25,3%) e horário (15; 19%). Foram identificadas 285 causas potenciais da falha (CPF) com as seguintes freqüências quanto aos índices de ocorrência: 91 (31,9%) média, 78 (27,4%), baixa ou relativamente baixa; 40 (14,0%), alta; e 30 (10,5%), extremamente alta. As CPF foram classificadas dentro de três categorias: gestão dos processos organizacionais (125; 43,9%); recursos humanos (124; 41,4%); estrutura física e material (36; 12,6%). Em relação aos tipos de controles, os resultados mostraram que 211 (92,9%) eram de detecção e 12 (5,3%) de prevenção. O cálculo do número de prioridade de risco (NPR) das CPF identificou que 59 (20,7%) eram de alta prioridade de risco, 156 (54,7%) de média e 70 (24, 6%) de baixa. Foram recomendadas 293 ações de melhorias para as 215 CPF de alta e média prioridade, sendo 240 (81,9%) de curto prazo, 39 (13,3%) de médio prazo e 14 (4,8%) de longo prazo. A simulação do impacto das ações propostas possibilitou identificar uma redução de 79,7% dos MPF de alta prioridade de risco e de 59,6% dos MPF de alta criticidade, assim como uma redução do NPR total das atividades entre 90 e 31,8%, com medidas simples e de rápida aplicação, aumentando a confiabilidade e segurança do processo de administração de medicamentos / Intravenous drug administration is a high-risk process due to its complexity and high rates of adverse events. The aim of this study was to analyse potential risks associated to intravenous anti-infectious drug administration process in a hospital unit. It was an exploratory search at a University Hospital Medical Clinic unit in Goiás, by means of failure modes and effects analysis method. For data collection, it was formed a six members multidisciplinary staff: risk and nurse manager, medical, nurse, and pharmacist, in addition to the searcher. A number of 24 meetings was done, from February 19 and July 3, 2008, in an amount of 56 hours. One has collected data, copied and saved them in a Microsoft Excel® electronic data bank. Afterwards, they were analyzed by means of XFMEA 4 software. Results showed that administration process involves 4 micro process, 10 activities, 22 functions. The search identified 52 failure potential modes (FPM) whose most significant frequencies happened in the following activities: drug administration (16; 30.8%); drug preparation (12; 23.1%); drug delay (5; 9,6%) and drug names transcription to tags (5; 9.6%). The study identified also 79 failure potential effects (FPE), whose higher frequencies were: drug administration (24; 30.4%), drug preparation (15; 19%) and transcription to tags (12; 15.2%). Among FPE, 36.2% were considered as of medium severity ones; 28.7% moderate severity, and 27.5% of high severity ones. High severity effects were identified in 80% of the activities. Effect classification pointed that the most frequent types were the following ones: technical (21; 26.6%), omission (20; 25.3%) and schedule (15; 19%). A number of 285 failure potential causes (FPC) were identified with the following occurrence rates: 91 (31.9%) medium, 78 (27.4%), low or extremely low; 40 (14.0%), high; and 30 (10.5%), extremely high. FPC were classified in three categories: organizational process management (125; 43.9%); human resources (124; 41.4%); physical and material structure (36; 12.6%). Concerning to control types, results showed 211 (92.9%) derived from detection and 12 (5.3%) were prevention ones. FPC Risk priority number (RPN) calculation showed that 59 (20.7%) had high-risk priority; 156 (54.7%) medium and 70 (24.6%) low-risk priority. A number of 293 recommendations were done to high and medium priority FPC: 240 (81.9%) short term, 39 (13.3%) de medium term and 14 (4.8%) de long-term ones. Action impact simulation on failure modes allowed to identify a 79.7% reduction in high priority FPM as well a 59.6% one in high criticality FPM ones by means of simple and quick application measures that can improve reliability and safety in drug administration process

Introdução: Os erros de medicação em hospitais têm origem multidisciplinar e multifatorial, podendo ocorrer em qualquer uma das etapas do processo de utilização dos medicamentos. A constatação de que os erros podem ocorrer implica no reconhecimento de que medidas devem ser tomadas. Os erros de medicação não devem ser banalizados, nem magnificados, devem ser adequadamente abordados em todas as suas repercussões pessoais, profissionais e institucionais. O Modelo de Bioética Complexa é um referencial adequado para abordar a temática dos erros de medicação, por refletir sobre situações de complexidade crescente, incluindo os múltiplos aspectos envolvidos. Objetivos: Avaliar o sistema de notificação de erros de medicação do HCPA segundo o referencial da Bioética Complexa. Analisar a percepção de colaboradores das áreas de Enfermagem, Farmácia e Medicina sobre a notificação e o monitoramento dos erros de medicação na Instituição. Identificar as barreiras para a notificação dos erros de medicação. Identificar os facilitadores para a notificação dos erros de medicação. Identificar os motivos para realizar a notificação de erros de medicação. Método: Trata-se de um estudo descritivo e exploratório. Foi realizada uma pesquisa online através da ferramenta Formulários Google®. O questionário, composto por 9 perguntas, foi elaborado tendo como referência perguntas de estudo prévio sobre o tema. O questionário era anônimo, não sendo possível identificar os participantes. Por e-mail institucional do HCPA, foi enviado convite com o endereço eletrônico para acessar o instrumento de coleta de dados. Não foram incluídos colaboradores vinculados ao Programa de Gestão da Qualidade e da Informação em Saúde (QUALIS) e à Gerência de Risco (GR), bem como coordenadores e assessores do HCPA. O envio dos e-mails foi realizado em um período de 60 dias. Foram realizados 2 a 4 envios, em diferentes dias da semana. Foi obtida uma amostra aleatória de 411 participantes, de um total de 3872 colaboradores (profissionais de nível superior das áreas de Medicina, Enfermagem e Farmácia, contratados ou residentes, e técnicos de Enfermagem e de Farmácia). O conteúdo das respostas às perguntas abertas do questionário foi submetido à técnica de análise de conteúdo de Bardin. Os dados foram armazenados e avaliados no software de análise qualitativo QSR NVivo® versão 10. Resultados: Foram identificadas três categorias principais de barreiras: Barreiras Individuais, Barreiras Organizacionais e Barreiras Culturais. Na categoria Barreiras Individuais, emergiram seis subcategorias: medo, desconhecimento, responsabilidade, falta de comprometimento, esquecimento e vergonha. Na categoria Barreiras Organizacionais, emergiram quatro subcategorias: demanda de trabalho, dificuldades com o sistema de notificação, falta de feedback e infraestrutura. Na categoria Barreiras Culturais, emergiram três subcategorias: cultura de segurança não priorizada, cultura de banalização dos erros e cultura de infalibilidade. O medo foi a barreira individual mais referida pelos participantes. A demanda de trabalho foi percebida como uma das principais barreiras organizacionais pelos colaboradores e foi relacionada à falta de tempo. A partir da análise das respostas dos participantes, emergiram 12 categorias de facilitadores para a notificação dos erros de medicação: Divulgação e informação, Condução adequada da análise, Sistema de notificação, Resposta não punitiva, Feedback, Clareza, Cultura, Treinamento, Anonimato, Trabalho em equipe, Demanda de trabalho e Comprometimento. Doze categorias foram identificadas como motivos para notificar os erros de medicação. As categorias foram agrupadas quanto à sua relação com os profissionais, com os processos e com os pacientes. Motivos relacionados ao profissional: a Educação, a Proteção do Profissional envolvido em um erro de medicação e a Responsabilidade. Motivos relacionados aos processos envolvidos: Prevenir novos erros, Revisão dos processos, Análise dos erros, Barreiras de segurança, Protocolo Institucional e Cultura de segurança. Motivos relacionados aos pacientes: Segurança do Paciente, Qualidade da assistência e Riscos. Considerações finais: Verifica-se o engajamento dos profissionais participantes que deram inúmeras contribuições para o entendimento e aprimoramento do processo de notificação de erros de medicação, com uma ênfase na segurança do paciente. / Background: Medication errors in hospitals have multidisciplinary and multifactorial origin and can occur at any stage of the process of use of medicines. The finding that errors may occur involves the recognition that measures should be taken. Medication errors should not be trivialized or magnified, they should be adequately addressed in all their personal, professional and institutional repercussions. The Complex Bioethics model is an appropriate framework to address the issue of medication errors, by reflecting on the increasing complexity of situations, including the many aspects involved. Objective: To evaluate the medication error reporting system of the HCPA under the framework of Complex Bioethics. To analyze the perception of employees in the areas of Nursing, Pharmacy and Medicine on the reporting and monitoring of medication errors in the institution. Identify barriers to the reporting of medication errors. Identify facilitators for reporting of medication errors. Identify the reasons to perform medication error reporting. Method: This is a descriptive and exploratory study. It was done a search online through Google Forms tool. The questionnaire consists of 9 questions, it has been established as a previous study questions reference on the subject. The questionnaire was anonymous, it is not possible to identify participants. Email invitation has been sent to the email address of the participants to access the questionnaire. The sending of e-mails was conducted in a period of 60 days. A random sample of 411 participants was obtained, a total of 3872 employees. The content of the answers to open questions of the questionnaire was submitted to Bardin content analysis technique. The data were stored and evaluated by qualitative analysis software QSR NVivo version 10. Results: We identified three main categories: individual barriers, organizational barriers and cultural barriers. In the category individual barriers emerged six sub-categories: fear, ignorance, responsibility, lack of commitment, forgetfulness and shame. In the category organizational barriers, four subcategories emerged: workload, difficulties with the reporting system, lack of feedback and infrastructure. In the category cultural barriers revealed three subcategories: not prioritized safety culture, banalization of errors and infallibility culture. Fear was the individual barrier most reported by the participants. The workload was perceived as a major organizational barrier by employees and was related to lack of time. From the analysis of the responses of the participants emerged 12 categories of facilitators for the reporting of medication errors: shared information, proper conduct of the analysis, reporting system, non- punitive response, feedback, clarity, culture, training, anonymity, teamwork, workload and commitment. Twelve categories were identified as reasons for reporting medication errors. The categories were grouped as to its relationship with the professionals, with the procedures and with patients. Reasons related to Professional: education, professional protection and responsibility. Reasons related to the processes involved: To prevent new errors, review of processes, analysis of errors, safety barriers, institutional protocol and safety culture. Reasons related to patients: patient safety, quality of care and risks. Conclusion: There is the engagement of the professionals who gave numerous contributions to the understanding and improvement of medication errors notification process, with an emphasis on patient safety.

A solução de problemas é parte fundamental da manutenção da qualidade e da melhoria contínua. Ao longo dos anos diversos métodos foram desenvolvidos para solucionar problemas, todavia nem todos os métodos são aplicáveis em todos os problemas ou adequados para todos os setores. Caracterizado pelo ambiente em constante mudança, o setor hospitalar possui problemas complexos, cuja solução necessita de uma abordagem adequada e robusta. Dessa forma, o presente trabalho objetiva avaliar o desempenho de três métodos normalmente utilizados para solução de problemas: A3, RCA e FRAM, quando aplicados em ambiente hospitalar. Para esse fim, os três métodos foram aplicados no mesmo processo, de prescrição e medicação, de um hospital universitário. Os resultados das aplicações foram analisados de acordo com os critérios: número total de ações de melhoria propostas, dificuldade de implementação, a possibilidade de replicação das ações entre as unidades do hospital, o tempo necessário para aplicação dos métodos, o número de envolvidos, a necessidade de capacitação da equipe e um indicador de prioridade das ações propostas. Além disso, a percepção dos profissionais da saúde em relação aos métodos foi analisada. Os resultados demonstram que, no contexto avaliado, os métodos apresentaram um bom desempenho, por terem apresentado melhorias que, em média, foram consideradas adequadas pela instituição. / Problem solving is a fundamental part for quality maintenance and continuous improvement. Through the years many methods were developed to solve problems, though these methods do not apply to every problem, or are suitable to every type of activity. Kwon for its constant changing nature, hospitals have complex problems, which need a suitable and robust approach to solve. Thus, the present study has the objective of evaluating the performance of three methods usually used for problem solving: A3, RCA and FRAM, when applied on a hospital. For this, the three methods were applied in the same process, of prescription and medication, in an academic hospital. The results were analyzed accordingly to the following criteria: the total number of improvement actions proposed, implementation difficult, replication possibility along the departments of the hospital, the time needed to apply the methods, the number of people involved, the need of training for the team and an indicator for prioritization. Besides that, the health sector workers’ perception regards the methods was analyzed. The results evidence that, in the studied context, the methods had good performance, because introduced improvements that, on average, were considered suitable for the institution.

Este trabalho foi realizado no período de 06 de abril de 2004 a 21 de julho de 2004, com o objetivo de descrever a estrutura e funcionamento do sistema informatizado para controle da dispensação de medicamentos na Divisão de Assistência Farmacêutica do Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto da Universidade de São Paulo, bem como avaliar os resultados obtidos com a sua implantação em relação aos serviços de enfermagem e farmacêutico. Foi aplicado um formulário padronizado a 58 enfermeiros, 10 farmacêuticos e 15 auxiliares de farmacêutico que participaram da fase de estruturação, para avaliar a sua opinião quanto aos aspectos relativos à requisição de medicamentos, à forma de apresentação dos medicamentos dispensados pela farmácia hospitalar e à operacionalização do sistema. Como resultados observou-se que para estes profissionais, as principais vantagens obtidas foram: a eliminação da transcrição manual para requisição do medicamento prescrito, a rapidez, a melhor identificação das doses prescritas pelo médico, a embalagem dos medicamentos contendo toda a identificação necessária e a conferência do medicamento requisitado e dispensado através da leitura óptica do código de barras. Os resultados deste estudo permitiram-nos concluir que a grande maioria dos entrevistados considerou o sistema informatizado de dispensação de medicamentos de boa qualidade. A análise dos dados aqui descritos, embora possa não englobar algumas dimensões importantes na busca de uma terapia medicamentosa mais racional, forneceu subsídios que podem contribuir para a expansão e o aperfeiçoamento do sistema, visando dar suporte à realização de estudos de utilização de medicamentos e proporcionar novas perspectivas de trabalho e produtividade. / The present study was conducted from April 6 to July 21, 2004 with the objective of describing the structure and functioning of the informatized system for the control of the delivery of medications at the Division of Pharmaceutical Assistance of the University Hospital, Faculty of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, and to assess the results obtained with its implantation regarding the nursing and pharmaceutical services. A standardized form was distributed to 58 nurses, 10 pharmacists and 15 pharmacist assistants who participated in the structuring phase in order to obtain their opinion regarding the requisition of medications, the form of presentation of the medications distributed by the hospital pharmacy, and the operationalization of the system. As a result, we observed that according to these professionals, the major advantages of the system are: the elimination of manual transcription for the requisition of the prescribed medication, the rapidity, the better identification of the doses prescribed by the doctors, the packaging of the medications containing all the necessary identification, and the verification of the requisitioned and distributed medication by optic reading of the bar code. The data collected in this study permitted us to conclude that most of the persons interviewed consider the system of distribution of medications to be of good quality. Analysis of the data reported here, although it may not involve some important dimensions for the search of a more rational medicamentous treatment, provides information that might contribute to the expansion and refining of the system, also providing support for the execution of studies on the use of medications and opening new perspectives of work and productivity.

Medication errors increased 64.4% from 2015 to 2018 in the United States due to the use of computerized physician order entry (CPOE) systems and the inability to exchange information among health care facilities. Healthcare information exchange (HIE) and subsequent discrepancies resulted in significant medical errors due to the lack of exchangeable health care information using technology software. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore the strategies health care business managers used to manage computerized physician order entry systems within health care facilities to reduce medication errors and increase profitability. The population of the study was 8 clinical business managers in 2 successful small health care clinics located in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Data were collected from semistructured interviews with health care leaders and documents from the health care organization as a resource. Inductive analysis was guided by the Donabedian theory and sociotechnical system theory, and trustworthiness of interpretations was confirmed through member checking. Three themes emerged: standardizing data formats reduced medication errors and increased profits, adopting user-friendly HIE reduced medication errors and increase profits, and efficient communication reduced medication errors and increased profits. The findings of this study contribute to positive change through improved health care delivery to patients resulting in healthier communities.

Canadian statistics on patient safety in acute care hospitals are alarming. Hospital safety concerns are not isolated to patient safety. Occupational safety is also important. With increasing shortages of nurses, stress in the work place is growing. Nurses report high levels of absenteeism of 14.5 days per year. The importance of a just and fair culture and the role of nurse leaders have been emphasized in safety literature. Although deemed important, studies of nurse leaders and patient outcomes are limited. The influence of interactional justice in the workplace on nurse and patient safety has not been studied. The purpose of this study was to test and refine a model developed from the literature which explains the impact of perceived interactional justice, relational leadership, and quality of nurse manager – clinical nurse relationships on the nursing work environment and ultimately patient and nurse safety outcomes. The model was tested on a random sample of 266 Ontario acute care registered nurses. Findings indicated the model reasonably fit the observed data, however could benefit from further refinement. The addition of 2 pathways (span of control to nurses’ intent to leave and number of medication errors to nurse emotional exhaustion) and trimming of the insignificant paths improved the overall model fit. The resulting model indicates that resonant leadership style and interactional justice improves the quality of nurse leader-nurse relationships which in turn improves quality of the nurses’ work environment and safety climate. A positive safety climate led to a decrease in the number medication errors and nurses’ intentions to leave their unit. A higher quality work environment predicted lower nurse emotional exhaustion. Additionally, higher numbers of medication errors led to an increase in nurse emotional exhaustion. This suggests that distress may be associated with making a medication error or fear of consequences. As well, larger manager spans were associated with less nurse intent to leave. As the span increased, the number of support personnel also increased. Contrary to other research findings, this result suggests that supportive personnel may mitigate the effect of large manager spans of control on nurses’ intent to leave their units.

Canadian statistics on patient safety in acute care hospitals are alarming. Hospital safety concerns are not isolated to patient safety. Occupational safety is also important. With increasing shortages of nurses, stress in the work place is growing. Nurses report high levels of absenteeism of 14.5 days per year. The importance of a just and fair culture and the role of nurse leaders have been emphasized in safety literature. Although deemed important, studies of nurse leaders and patient outcomes are limited. The influence of interactional justice in the workplace on nurse and patient safety has not been studied. The purpose of this study was to test and refine a model developed from the literature which explains the impact of perceived interactional justice, relational leadership, and quality of nurse manager – clinical nurse relationships on the nursing work environment and ultimately patient and nurse safety outcomes. The model was tested on a random sample of 266 Ontario acute care registered nurses. Findings indicated the model reasonably fit the observed data, however could benefit from further refinement. The addition of 2 pathways (span of control to nurses’ intent to leave and number of medication errors to nurse emotional exhaustion) and trimming of the insignificant paths improved the overall model fit. The resulting model indicates that resonant leadership style and interactional justice improves the quality of nurse leader-nurse relationships which in turn improves quality of the nurses’ work environment and safety climate. A positive safety climate led to a decrease in the number medication errors and nurses’ intentions to leave their unit. A higher quality work environment predicted lower nurse emotional exhaustion. Additionally, higher numbers of medication errors led to an increase in nurse emotional exhaustion. This suggests that distress may be associated with making a medication error or fear of consequences. As well, larger manager spans were associated with less nurse intent to leave. As the span increased, the number of support personnel also increased. Contrary to other research findings, this result suggests that supportive personnel may mitigate the effect of large manager spans of control on nurses’ intent to leave their units.

Growing adoption of health information technologies is allowing healthcare providers to capture and store enormous amounts of patient data. In order to effectively use this data to improve healthcare outcomes and processes, clinicians need to identify the relevant measures and apply the correct analysis methods for the type of data at hand. In this dissertation, we present various data mining and statistical methods that could be applied to the type of datasets that are found in healthcare research. We discuss the process of identification of appropriate measures and statistical tools, the analysis and validation of mathematical models, and the interpretation of results to improve healthcare quality and safety. We illustrate the application of statistics and data mining techniques on three real-world healthcare datasets. In the first chapter, we develop a new method to assess hydration status using breath samples. Through analysis of the more than 300 volatile organic compounds contained in human breath, we aim to identify markers of hydration. In the second chapter, we evaluate the impact of the implementation of an electronic medical record system on the rate of inpatient medication errors and adverse drug events. The objective is to understand the impact on patient safety of different information technologies in a specific environment (inpatient pediatrics) and to provide recommendations on how to correctly analyze count data with a large amount of zeros. In the last chapter, we develop a mathematical model to predict the probability of developing post-operative nausea and vomiting based on patient demographics and clinical history, and to identify the group of patients at high-risk.

The purpose of this study was to determine if the level of Nurse Manager (NM) emotional intelligence (EI) predicted registered nurse (RN) job satisfaction and RN perceptions of the practice environment. In addition, relationships to patient, nursing, and hospital outcomes were explored. Participants included RNs (N=659) and NMs (N=38) from 53 nursing units at eight hospitals located in the southeast region of the United States. A cross-sectional, correlational research design was used to test the hypotheses. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients, simple linear and multiple regression statistics were conducted to analyze the data. Level of NM EI had a positive, not significant relationshp to RN job satisfaction and RN perceptions of the practice environment. A direct, positive significant relationship was observed between the variables NM EI and patient satisfaction with nursing care. There was a positive, significant relationship noted between the variables RN job satisfaction and RN perceptions of the practice environment. The indirect relationships between the level of NM EI and patient, nursing and hospital outcomes were not significant. There was a direct significant, positive relationship noted between the variables RN perceptions of the practice environment and patient satisfaction with nursing care. In addition, the interaction between RN job satisfaction and RN hours of care had a positive, significant relationship with unit level pressure ulcer rates. This study indicated that units with higher RN hours of care have increased pressure ulcer rates. In addition, results illustrate a marked increase in pressure ulcer rates on those units with higher levels of job satisfaction. In this study, pressure ulcer rates depended on the level of RN job satisfaction.