Controlling and Preventing Errors in Nursing Care of Pediatric Patients

This book offers nurses guidance about the most common and the more serious errors made in caring for pediatric patients, from infants to adolescents (ages 0-18 years), and how they can be avoided. Nurses play the largest role in patient care, and their overwhelming workload may sometimes lead to errors that are, in some cases, irreversible, putting a great deal of responsibility on nurses. This book is unique in identifying risk, potential, and actual errors, determining root causes, and identifying best practices.

This book covers learning specific to pediatric patients, such as their frailty or their inability to communicate. It also reviews the predisposing and contributing factors (staff shortage, work overload, fatigue) and describes the types of errors, including omission, medication errors (prescribing, dosing), identification errors, and procedural errors to name a few. Consequences, detection, and monitoring for nursing errors are also included.
The book describeshow errors can be avoided by taking the appropriate measures and how they can be adequately managed according to current evidence-based practice. Recommendations for further study are also provided.

This is a valuable resource for professional nurses, as well as nurse educators, leaders, and mentors to train and guide their students and novice nurses.

·      Introduction.- Overview of common conditions in pediatric patients.- Predisposing and contributing factors for nursing errors.- Types of errors.- Consequences of nursing errors.- Monitoring for and detecting nursing errors.- Best practices to prevent nursing errors.- Recommendations for further study.- Summary.

Kim Maryniak, PhD, RNC-NIC, NEA-BC has over 35 years of nursing experience in pediatrics, medical/surgical, psychiatry, pediatrics, progressive care, and adult and neonatal intensive care. She has been a staff nurse, charge nurse, educator, instructor, manager, director, and chief nursing officer, including over 14 years in pediatric and neonatal intensive care.

Kim is certified in Neonatal Intensive Care Nursing and as a Nurse Executive, Advanced. She achieved her Bachelor in Nursing at the Athabasca University, Alberta in 2000, her Master of Science in Nursing at the University of Phoenix in 2005, and her PhD in Nursing at the University of Phoenix in 2018.

Kim is active in the American Nurses Association and the American Organization of Nurse Leaders. Her current and previous roles include nursing leadership, research utilization, nursing peer review and advancement, education, use of simulation, quality, process improvement, professional development, infection control, patient throughput, nursing operations, professional practice, and curriculum development.