Failure to rescue (FTR) outcomes may be one consequence of the relationship be-tween healthcare provider behaviors and attitudes, organizational factors, and environ-mental factors that intersect to potentially threaten patient safety. Early warning systems (EWS) were designed as surveillance systems to reduce failure to rescue events and avoid morbidity and mortality. Challenges with EWS include lack of standardization, organiza-tional barriers, such as culture and supports, and human factor attributes such as intuition, expertise, and experience. The experience and perceptions of nurses using EWS technolo-gy as it relates to their clinical assessment, critical thinking, and decision-making skills has yet to be undertaken. This study adds to the body of EWS and FTR literature and the broader culture of safety literature in acute care environments.
The purposes of this exploratory qualitative descriptive study was to explore the experiences of nurses using EWS in acute care practice settings and how they perceive it impacts on their critical thinking and clinical decision-making processes. The study identi-fied three informative findings: a) EWS has added value particularly with novice nurses or nurses new to practice settings, b) EWS provides benefits to nurses working in acute clinical environments that experience high volumes and high acuity of patients by alerting or reminding them about potential FTR situations, and c) Existing EWS may require mod-ification to improve adequacy, reduce redundancy, and reduce alarm fatigue. Based on the evidence reviewed, a qualitative study to increase our understanding of the experi-ence of nurses and their perception of the impact of EWS and related technology on their critical thinking and other nursing practice processes has the potential to contribute to a wider evaluation of EWS systems and to improve patient outcomes. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / Before patients on general medical or surgical hospital units become so ill that they need to be transferred to an
intensive care unit, they have abnormal vital signs and other physiological changes that can go unnoticed for 2448
hours. As these changes can be hard to detect and serious illness can begin very slowly at first, early warning
systems have been developed to help health care professionals respond to patient’s conditions before they need to
be in an intensive care unit. These early warning systems can be in the form of new technology and assist nurses
with preventing a serious illness from becoming critical. It is not well research or understood how nurses experience
such early warning systems technology and it is not well understood how nurses think this technology impacts their
nursing practice. The overall aim of the study is to learn more about the experience and perception of nurses who
use this technology, how they believe it informs their nursing practice and how it supports them in making clinical
decisions about patient care.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:mcmaster.ca/oai:macsphere.mcmaster.ca:11375/27604 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Geerlinks, Patricia |
| Contributors | Dr. McKey, Colleen, Nursing |
| Source Sets | McMaster University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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