Students in their fourth year of the Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program at Thompson Rivers University (TRU) are learning to refine their skills in nursing practice with an emphasis on leadership, research and education.
During an eight-week leadership practicum (Royal Inland Hospital) students apply what they learn to real-world healthcare settings, under the guidance and direction of senior nurse leaders, and choose a project that will further develop their skills and help them to prepare for their new role as a professional nurse.
“When I heard fourth year nursing students were coming to our unit I thought it would be a great opportunity to launch a project that would promote patient safety and PSLS,” says Meagan Hanson, Manager of Medical Services.
Meagan says she had noticed inconsistencies in their PSLS reporting.
“Some patient safety events that should be reported weren’t and there was a lot of confusion amongst the staff about what kinds of events to report. I envisioned some kind of PSLS poster and hoped a nursing student would be interested in taking it on.”
Sarah Stewart was that fourth year nursing student who grabbed hold of Meagan’s project and made it her own. She started off by speaking with different staff members about PSLS and the idea of a poster. She says the experience was enlightening and helped her decide what information to include on the poster.
“I learned that staff didn’t know certain events should be reported in PSLS – pressure ulcers or delays in care for example. People would say, oh, I didn’t know I should report that in PSLS. And some staff didn’t really understand what a near miss was.”
In the end, Sarah created an eye-catching and easy-to-read PSLS poster for all staff at RIH.
Sarah Stewart, a fourth year nursing student at Thompson Rivers University, created this poster to help hospital staff identify what kinds of safety events to report in PSLS.
“I’m so pleased with how the poster turned out,” says Meagan. “We’ve put laminated copies all over my units and have shared this resource with other Managers at Royal Inland Hospital. Sarah’s positive attitude and willingness to speak with our staff was just wonderful. This poster is just what we needed.”
Kudos to Sarah on her achievement! And special thanks to Julie Wootton and Andrew Hiob for letting Central Office know about this excellent work.
Congratulations to all!
You can reach Meagan at MeaganP.Hanson@interiorhealth.ca
Sarah Stewart is a fourth year nursing student at the School of Nursing at Thompson Rivers University. She completed her practice leadership practicum at Royal Inland Hospital in late 2015.
Thank you for taking this initiative. Too often those of us who have been around for a while take things for granted. Knowing that reporting is one of the key ways to make change happen and is the only way to put the front line and learners in the valued position as the eyes and ears of our health system is critical. Your poster does this. D
Every hospital should have a poster like this. It makes things so clear and whenever something happens and one needs to make a quick decision they only have to look at the poster and know precisely what needs to be done. This can mean the difference between life and death.
I agree with Hana on this one, every hospital should have this poster. It helps better prevent any future problems and it’s also a huge time saver since it focuses on every incident and it also provides straightforward action.