COURSE:
NR520 Applied Theoretical Foundations Scientific Inquiry and Decision-Making
Collaboration Café
Situational awareness is defined by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ, nd) as the degree to which ones perception of a situation matches reality (para, 1). Situational awareness can include awareness of patient status, prioritizing care, environmental threats to safety, and fatigue or stress. A lack of situational awareness can result in serious safety events and add to crisis.
Share your experience and perspective in answering the following questions:
Describe a time in your nursing practice when you were involved in or witnessed an error or a near-miss.
How could situational awareness have prevented this situation?
What pattern of knowing (empirical, ethical, personal, or aesthetic knowledge) applies to situational awareness?
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (nd). Glossary of situational awareness. Glossary | PSNet (ahrq.gov)
SOLUTION
Describe a time in your nursing practice when you were involved in or witnessed an error or near-miss.
During a shift in labor and delivery, I witnessed a near-miss involving the administration of Cytotec (misoprostol) to a patient for labor induction. The nurse was preparing the medication for oral administration but had not properly verified the dose. The order called for 50mcg of cytotec. The nurse pulled a 200mcg dose of cytotec instead. Fortunately, the nurse caught the mistake before administering the medication to the patient.
How could situational awareness have prevented this situation?
Situational awareness could have prevented this near-miss if the nurse had more carefully reviewed the
